What is needed to pick up trash?

It goes without saying that one's organizational details have to be completed before the picking can be done. Start with the Department of Transportation. In Minnesota the site is: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/adopt/

The DOT requires that a contract be signed. I have found that the DOT people are very friendly and easy to work with. The DOT is very happy to have people pick up trash along the highways.

The DOT provides the signs and the bags. The individual pickers are responsible for their own gloves.

As an organizer I provide some tools that I have found to be useful. The most important tool for me is a three-pronged rake. I don't mind bending over to pick up the trash but a rake sure helps.

I like to put my trash bags in a plastic laundry basket that goes on a cart. It's easier to keep the bag open when it is in a basket. I keep a supply of empty bags in the bottom of the laundry basket so that there is always a new bag available when a bag has been filled.

Our groups have found it useful to have several pickers work with the bagger. We have found it convenient for the pickers to carry small plastic pails while they walk the ditches. The pickers put the trash into their pails and empty them when they become full.

It saves energy if the pickers can move along the route in a straight line. This might seem awkward at first, but believe me it, it really works.