photos/Keep Pickens Beautiful
Participants lined up at the Pickens Recycling Center to tally their trash hauls. Teams got points for regular trash, for separating recycling into blue bags, points for cigarette butts, for large items, and social media posts.
Submitted by KPB
Keep Pickens Beautiful hosted the first Fall Trash-O-Lympics this past Saturday and it was a resounding success. Nine teams scattered throughout Pickens County and picked up as much roadside trash as they could in two hours. Everyone then gathered in town for a Trash Cavalcade to the Pickens Recycling Center led by the Pickens County Marshal and the Jasper City Police for the big count, visiting with fellow Trashletes, awards, and more.
In two hours, the Trashlympian Teams collected:
•1,484 gallons of trash
•857 gallons of recycling
•For a total of 2,341 gallons of garbage removed from Pickens County roads
•Plus roughly 2,700 cigarette butts
•And a diverse collection of large items pulled to the roadsides for the County and City Road Departments to easily collect
To celebrate this impressive accomplishment, teams gathered at the Pickens Recycling Center to visit with each other and to enjoy a food-truck feast from LC Tacos and Appalachian Raspados.
Cleaning up the county was the motivation behind the Trash-O-Lympics, but the ultimate goal was for everyone to have fun. Picking up trash isn’t the most glamorous task, but when it’s done in a group with some friendly competition and prizes as motivators, “trashwalking” becomes both “good clean fun” and a satisfying way to make a significant contribution to the community. All of the teams did a fantastic job. As this was the Trash-O-Lympics, Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals were awarded with cash prizes of $1000, $500, and $250.
•Team Pookie Bear won Gold with 83 points – 460 gallons plus large items
•Eco Warriors won Silver with 75 points – 400 gallons plus a bag of cigarette butts and several large items
•Trash Goblins won Bronze with 73 points – 396 gallons plus a bag of cigarette butts and several large items
•The Chapman Crew won the most unique item found
Visit the Trash-O-Lympics page on the Keep Pickens Beautiful website to see all the teams and their collections.
Keep Pickens Beautiful would like to thank Pickens County and the City of Jasper for supporting the Trash-O-Lympics. A big ‘Thank You!’ is extended to the staff at the Pickens Recycling Center for helping with the preparations for the event, and for all of their assistance during and after the festivities.
Mark your calendar for the Spring Trash-O-Lympics to be held in conjunction with KPBs fourth annual “Earth Day on Main” celebration, Saturday, April 19, 2025. Watch their website and social channels for information as the big day approaches.
Visit www.keeppickensbeautiful.com to learn more.
