Meet the kayaker who's removing Pittsburghers' litter from the Ohio River
His day on the way will undo the damage people are causing. Trash, litter and otherwise discarded stuff are just clumped up along the shorelines.
"I think if they really knew what it looked like up close, I think they would be shocked and embarrassed," Ross said.
About three times a week, Ross will go along a 2.5-mile section of the river cleaning it up. He is welcomed with scenes of trash every time.
"I fill up my kayak as much as I can, and sadly, it's not even very difficult," Ross said.
Litter is a problem around the world and the Pittsburgh region is no different. If you look along roadways and waterways, it's there, causing environmental damage and being unsightly. According to state Department of Environmental Protection, there are more than 500 million pieces of litter on just the roads.
Ross and his wife spend part of their time in Florida and started their work there. He wondered what the litter situation was at home.
"And sure enough, boy, it was way worse than I could have ever imagined," Ross said.
Since the summer of 2022, Ross has been working to clean up the river and other waterways. He will find just about anything and everything: tires, barrels, kegs and even traffic cones. The most common item is plastic bottles. He picked up about 130 when KDKA-TV joined him one morning.
"There's no slow in the flow. I'm not seeing any improvement. No matter how many bags I collect, I'm not seeing any improvement; it just keeps flowing in," Ross said.
He estimates that he's removed more than 18,000 bottles from the Ohio River.
To bring the attention of litter to others, he's created social media pages where he documents his efforts and calls on elected leaders for preventative efforts.
"We cannot clean our way out of this," Ross said.
And it goes beyond those in office. Ross says you don't have to go buy a kayak, but there are things we can all do, like if you see something, throw it out.
"You don't have to go crazy with this. Just make a little bit of difference. If we had a lot of people making a little bit of difference, I think it would make a huge difference," Ross said.
Up the creek with a lot more than just a paddle is how you will find Ross. You can follow his work on X and Instagram at TommyPicsUpTrash.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Need to get rid of old paint or papers? Monroe County can help
Monroe County residents have the opportunity to safely dispose of hazardous waste and sensitive documents on Aug. 9 According to a community announcement, the Recycling and Green Community Program is hosting a Household Hazardous Waste Collection event from 9 a.m. to noon at the Monroe Charter Township Hall, 4925 E. Dunbar Road. The event is free and open to Monroe County residents only. Business waste will not be accepted. Acceptable materials include pesticides, fertilizers, oil-based paints, automotive fluids, cleaning products, flammable items, all types of batteries, mercury-containing items and fluorescent bulbs. Residents can also have their secure documents shredded on site and recycled. There is a limit of 100 pounds per vehicle. 'Proper disposal of hazardous materials and sensitive documents is essential for the protection of our environment,' Dan Rock, Recycling and Green Community Program coordinator, said in the announcement. 'We encourage all residents to take advantage of these free services and ensure Monroe County stays safe and clean.' For shorter wait times, residents are encouraged to arrive after 10:30 a.m. Latex paint should be dried up and disposed of with regular waste at home. To do so, residents are advised to stir in kitty litter or other absorbent materials like sand or sawdust and leave the paint outside to dry. For larger amounts, mix absorbent material and paint in a trash bag-lined cardboard box. Once dry, it can be disposed of with regular waste. Since 2015, more than 1.6 million pounds of hazardous waste materials have been collected through the program. For more information, visit or call the Recycling and Green Community Program at 734-240-7909. Another household hazardous waste collection event is scheduled for 9 a.m.-noon Sept. 13 at Bedford Indian Creek Park. This story was created by Jane Imbody, jimbody@ with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Monroe County offers free drop-off for hazardous waste Aug. 9 Solve the daily Crossword
CBS News
8 hours ago
- CBS News
A rare look inside the Edgar Thomson steel plant
U.S. Steel celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Edgar Thomson steel plant in Braddock with an event Saturday that brought steelworkers, their families, and community leaders together to celebrate the plant's history and share hope for its future. Rare access inside the plant was provided to KDKA-TV as part of tours that the families of steelworkers went on. Andrew Carnegie first opened the plant, his first steel mill, in 1875. It helped launch the steelmaking industry in the U.S. and has survived the decline of steelmaking in the Pittsburgh region. Working at the plant, part of the Mon Valley Works, brings a level of pride for steelworkers like Nate Schmidt, who led one of the tours. "[It's] nothing but pride," he said, calling leading the tour very special. "It was really cool. I got to take my wife and my oldest son on a tour." Inside the plant, KDKA-TV saw what looked to most like giant metal buckets, officially a ladle, filled with molten material. "This is just the beginning," Schmidt shared. The building is from the 1970s. It's not the oldest or the newest part of the plant, steelworkers shared. Some parts of the steelmaking process are in structures from the 1930s, and the newest is from the 1990s, they said. Nippon promises that the plant will be modernized. Steelworkers said they are constantly performing maintenance. There are also safety precautions everywhere. Just for our KDKA-TV reporter to go inside, a hard hat, long pants, safety glasses, and a heat-resistant jacket were required. The tour brought KDKA-TV to a steelworker whose job requires him to work in extreme heat, so much so that his shifts are only an hour long. The job is crucial; they identify issues and can immediately halt steel production at that location to prevent a major problem from occurring. The pride that Schmidt felt is shared by other steelworkers like William Moutz. "Not only is it pride for me, because I get to work in the same mill my dad worked in and provides for my family the way my dad did, but it's US Steel," Moutz said. "We make history every day. They're the last two blast furnaces in Pennsylvania, and at one time, there were 72 across the state." Local union leaders spoke ahead of the tours, like Rob Hutchinson, the president of USW Local 1219. "As we celebrate 150 years, let us not honor just what's been built, but what's been endured through industrial revolutions, world wars, global pandemics, the workers of this mill have never wavered," Hutchinson said, saying they won't waver in the future either. He also brought up the recent sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel. "Amid much controversy of what was best for our company, our workers showed up, and they did so without ever losing focus on their daily work," Hutchinson said. "I think if Andrew Carnegie walked into our mill today, I think he would be impressed," Moutz said. The same goes for the future after Nippon makes improvements. Schmidt said bringing his oldest son on the tour was special because he'd always wanted to see the plant. "Now, he finally got to see it, and at the end of the tour, he came up to me and told me that he'd love to one day work here with me," Schmidt said. "Makes me emotional, touches my heart. It's something special."
Fox News
14 hours ago
- Fox News
Staff from Colorado's Breckenridge Ski Resort collect 780 pounds of trash in mountain cleanup effort
Breckenridge Ski Resort staff removed 780 pounds of trash during the location's annual cleanup, finding unusual items including a message in a bottle and outdated electronics.
