A simple plastic bag caught Laura Wyatt’s eye about five years ago while she was walking from her Montecito home to Coast Village Road for exercise.
The bag was stuck in a bush so Laura grabbed it and proceeded to fill it with random trash she encountered along her route.
“There are unbelievable amounts of trash that you don’t notice when you’re driving,” Wyatt said. “I’m a visual person, so in a way it’s selfish, but the sight of trash really bothers me, so from that day forward I made a point of bringing a bag with me every time I walked.”
This turned into a regular routine for Wyatt, who said she found the act of collecting garbage gratifying.
She enjoyed it so much that for her birthday three years ago she invited friends for a walk and breakfast, not telling them that they’d be picking up trash along the way. The birthday walk represented many of the things that Laura said she loves: walking, eating, caring for the environment and multi-tasking.
Fortunately, her friends loved it, too.
This gravitation towards garbage has turned into a monthly trash pick-up with Wyatt’s group of eight hiking buddies meeting mostly on Sunday mornings and spending about 90 minutes collecting trash, all within a one-mile radius.
“It’s a surprisingly short distance because there’s so much litter,” explained Wyatt, who said the group’s record is 24 filled bags.
Wyatt takes these waste walks seriously. She supplies the gloves, bags, and wipes, and just invested in premium pickers. She also scouts out the location in advance, ensuring it’s safely walkable with plenty of debris.
So far, the group has covered portions of Cliff Drive, Cabrillo Boulevard to Coast Village Road, Milpas Street, and Ninos Drive towards Dwight Murphy Field. She coordinates her efforts with the city, dumping the rubbish at approved drop-off locations.
Baret Boisson was introduced through a friend to Wyatt’s walks, and was enthusiastic about joining the tentatively named “trash mob.”
“Any time I go for a beach walk, I’m stuffing my pockets with trash,” said Boisson, who added that she used to turn trash-hunts into fun games for her niece and nephew, pretending they were eco-warriors.
Yet, the group’s October trash haul was anything but fun.
“It was horrific and exhausting,” admits Boisson, who said the group cleaned along the Milpas Street corridor where many homeless encampments are found. “There were flies, and it smelled terrible, and we encountered living spaces with blankets next to human excrement and food.
“Your brain is trying to make sense of it – the dissonance of these items next to each other is overwhelming.”
Despite her discomfort, Boisson is committed to returning to this area to clean these living environments, because she can.
“It doesn’t cost me anything, and it’s making a difference,” Boisson explains. “I assume many living there are mentally ill or addicted to drugs, and they are not cleaning up after themselves.”
Boisson, who used to deliver trays of home-baked lasagna to the homeless, believes this work is more meaningful.
Among the bottles, cigarette butts, wrappers, rotted food and plastic bags, these waste warriors are quietly making an impact and improving the community.
“It checks a lot of boxes for me,” Wyatt said. “I’m with friends, and it’s social but it’s much more than that – we are doing good and making a positive contribution.”
“It’s certainly easy to do and I encourage others to get involved,” she added. “I’ve noticed that people want to help but they often just don’t know how.”
For information on how to get started, contact the city of Santa Barbara Environmental Services Division at 805.564.5631.
Ann Pieramici is a local freelance writer.
