Bill Hulbig and partner Bonnie Calvin are still picking up litter daily, one neighborhood at a time. This mission started about three years ago when theynoticed trash on the medians and swales during their daily morning walks.Immediately, they took action and each morning they walked out the door with a litter grabber,a collection bag, gloves, andyellow reflective nylon vests.

“It is not easy to bend down and pick up litter at my age,and using the conventional grabber had its limitations. It did not pick up 50% of the litter,” said Bill.

“If it was sold on Amazon, Bill most likely has tried it,” Bonnie said.

They say, “necessity is the mother of invention,” and Bill’s frustration,combined with his nature for fixing things,challenged him to develop a stick with a spike tip. He had a problem and found a solution, and thisquest led him to over 50 different designswith a final patent-pendingversion of his “Littergator” grabber.

The path to the perfect litter grabber was interrupted two years ago when Bill was diagnosed with follicular lymphoma and spent over nine months of intensive chemotherapy treatments. According to Bill, there were days when he could not get up from bed but willed himself to move. “I was not going to give up picking litter as it was something productive that I looked forward to doing every day,” Bill said. Bonnie continued to pick up trash every day while Bill was recovering.

“With renewed vigor and almost 90% back to normal, I am making up for lost time,” said Bill. It is Earth Day seven days a week for Bill and Bonnie as they continue walking for two hours and even drive to other neighborhoods to pick up litter.For a typical walk, they would each pick up at least 100 smaller pieces of litter,filling up tothreegrocery-sizebags. For larger construction pieces, they drag them to the nearest dumpster or drive back to pick them up.

Bonnie noticed that medians and parking lots had more cigarette butts and plastic straws; Bill has encountered less cans but more bottles and noted that the majority of the building contractors care about keeping their construction sites clean,but a few have litter fromoverflowing dumpsters containingfood items,attracting nuisance wildlife. Bill’s personal pet peeve are the small pest control signs left behind after the lawnsare treated with herbicide or pesticide. These plastic or paper signs are chewed up by lawn mowers and left behind to litter the right-of-ways.

Safety is a big concern for Bill and Bonnieandthey shared that they always walk towards traffic, wear bright yellow reflective vests,and are careful with motorists speeding by using the median lane while the outside lanes are usually occupied by the landscapers.

“Picking up litter provides a lot of cognitive skill exercises,” said Bill.“ It becomes a game on how to extract a piece of litter from underneath a thick bush; you can also improve your eye-hand coordination as you get better at spotting hidden objects. “

Picking up litter does pay, according to Bill. Walkers would stop to personally thank them,and they have even received gift certificates to local restaurants. Drivers wouldrecognize their yellow vests and honk or give them the thumbs up. Once last year, both Bonnie and Bill found cash.Picking up litter is contagious, according to Bonnie,as she has noticed more residents walking with collection bags and picking up litter during their morning walks. Bill observed, as he did three years ago, the absence of a Do Not Litter Sign anywhere in Marco Island –

“So, there is no incentive NOT to Litter,” he added.

Bill has created a catchy phrase for his newly designed patent-pending

Litter gatorgrabber - “No need to bend down to pick up litter, use the Littergator.”

He plans to have a limited supply of tester samples for volunteers to use for beach/neighborhood clean-ups. If interested, send an email to: billh@communityexchanges.net.