Michigan Man Among Top Litter Picker Uppers In the World

Pretend you're a bag of chips, a little bag slightly crumpled up with potato chips filled up about halfway, and air taking up the rest of the bag. You're then loaded into a truck, put in a vending machine, where you sit until someone orders you, and you drop to the bottom of the machine. You're ripped open, your contents emptied, and instead of being thrown in a trash can, you're discarded on the side of the road.

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That is a wasteful end to your story, with this bag being one of millions of pieces of litter that build up around Michigan every year. However, thankfully, some selfless individuals take the time out of their busy lives to pick up trash, making our state cleaner. As it turns out, one of the most active trash pickers-uppers in the world is in Michigan, and he has been on the grind for years.

Byran Grochowski's Trash Pickup

People who work for Michigan's Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy are all individuals who care about our state and want to see it as healthy as possible. However, one worker, Bryan Grochowski, walks the walk—literally.

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Grochowski has been picking up trash on his daily walks for years, to the point he claims he "might be addicted" to collecting litter. He has been doing this for nearly seven years, and in 2022, the app Litterati recognized him as one of their top users. He has logged over 40,000 pieces of trash that he individually picked up over the years.

He finished in the top 20 last year and is aiming to finish in the top 10 this year. Through this, he aims to raise awareness about microplastics, such as bottle caps and cigarette butts.

Grochowski's passion for trash pick up shows how easy it is to pick up after yourself and others. So next time you see that bag of potato chips on the sidewalk, be like Grochowski and pick it up.