Brotherly Love: Giving Away Trash Grabbers To Fight Litter
PHILADELPHIA (CBS)--A West Philadelphia pastor hopes he can start an anti-trash movement by equipping people with a $20 tool. The project not only gives away the tools for free, it also lets people win prizes.
It was started by Dave Brindley, who is a big fan of his own neighborhood.
"I love West Philly," he said. "I cannot believe people choose not to live in West Philadelphia."
Dave is always making his neighborhood better, walking the sidewalks picking up litter. He always uses a trash grabber. It costs about twenty bucks.
"This way, you don't have to be bending over, you don't have to hurt your back, you're not blasting your quads, and you don't have to touch anything that's gross," Dave said.
But Dave is just one man versus a lot of trash. So he had an idea: give away trash grabbers. His anti-litter project is called Not in Philly.
"We ask residents that for a 6-month commitment of going out once a week, we'll give you the grabbers, we'll give you the bags," Dave said.
Some of his first recruits were nearby families like Bo Gong's.
"When Dave brought the idea, NotinPhilly.org, we loved it," Bo said.
The trash grabbers make it easier and safer for kids to help. Eight-year-old Jia-Hua Gong has been helping clean, too.
"Cardboard and lots of newspaper and lots of plastic," Jia-Hua said.
Dave has given trash grabbers to about 50 families, and he's keeping track of the results on Instagram with the hashtag #NotinPhilly.
"If you post pictures of your cleanup, we have gift cards from HubBub Coffee," Dave said.
Dave just got a $1000 grant to recruit more.
"We figure if we can find a person or two on each block, then the litter problem in Philadelphia will be no more," Dave said.
You can contact Dave through email at notinphilly@gmail.com. Check out his Instagram on https://www.instagram.com/notinphilly or go to NotInPhilly.org.