CURRENT INADEQUATE SYSTEMS:
The 4 main ways litter is cleaned up in America today are inadequate for addressing the current plastic crisis:

1. Volunteers are organized for large yearly litter clean ups of rivers, parks, roadways and other areas plagued with litter.

2. Cities and towns utilize existing Public Works Staff to do litter abatement as a (generally very small) part of their general duties.  Picking up litter is often the last thing on their list.

3. State Highway Transportation Agencies have understaffed crews and volunteers that clean up road-side litter.

4. In some communities, Nonprofit Organizations have paid staff to respond to problematic litter areas.

In general, our nation’s litter problem is inadequately addressed by these existing models because the work is done irregularly/inconsistently by people who only do this job part time.

The research done in the field of litter science strongly supports consistent action to maintain visibly clean areas, especially high-traffic areas, rather than volunteer efforts every 6-12 months.

The LitterWorks Vision:
Every single municipality in America has existing professional landscape maintenance crews who already have the tools, skills, manpower, licensing and insurance to clean up litter in our neighborhoods, beaches, rivers, parks and roadways.  What if we could put these distributed crews to work cleaning up litter hot-spots throughout our nation? These landscape companies have crews deployed on maintenance routes that cover almost every single neighborhood in every city in America.  What if these landscape maintenance crews could add on adjacent litter hot-spots to their existing routes, providing consistent litter maintenance to areas that need it?  Litter maintenance (when done regularly) is generally a faster and easier task than pruning/mowing/blowing yards.   If the litter abatement work is within the same geographic area as an existing landscape maintenance route, and if the litter clean up work offers a consistent boost in monthly revenue, then there is a win/win for the community.  Neighborhoods get cleaned up on a consistent basis by qualified local small businesses who have an intrinsic investment in keeping their communities clean. Money invested in the community stays in the community and builds stewardship for local natural assets.

Communities win.  Small businesses win.  Nature wins.

In this new distributed model, LitterWorks will provide the coordination, training, oversight and administration of deployment of the landscape crews.   LitterWorks would start with an initial survey documenting the relative level of visible litter on a new site.   Subcontractor partners only get paid after photo documentation (geo-tagged and time stamped) is reported using our mobile reporting tool. We weigh and count of the number of litter items picked up on every visit.  This data and photo documentation will be forwarded to the sponsors for use in campaigns, social media, reporting, etc… 

Where We Work Today
LitterWorks currently maintains litter abatement contracts across Northern California and Northern Nevada, including a weekly patrol route at Boca Reservoir (probably the cleanest reservoir in California because of these weekly patrols), a quarterly contract with Nevada County covering five sites, and ongoing work with the Truckee Donner Land Trust. Since 2024, we've removed 1847 pounds of litter and completed 144 documented clean-ups.

Where is the litter?
Critical to cleaning up litter is knowing exactly where the litter hot-spots are.  Often there are natural collection areas where wind or water carries litter (along fencelines, at storm drains, in low lying areas, roadways).  LitterWorks will employ social media and other digital communication to get community members and vested partners  to contribute crowd-sourced data to populate online maps with pins showing exactly where the litter accumulation is.

Who sponsors the work?:
Cities, towns, counties, corporations, industry groups, non-profits, government agencies can all play a part in a cleaner America by investing in small businesses through this innovative new approach to litter abatement. 

A New Way Forward:
This new model expands local small businesses by doing important and meaningful work that is relatively simple and easy.  Communities benefit by having cleaner streets, beaches and streams, becoming more attractive to visitors and home owners - investment in clean communities pays dividends.  The LitterWorks model also works because it easily scales - there are already boots on the ground distributed across America who are qualified to do the work.
The LitterWorks app will make reporting easy, will centralize the data from distributed crews  and provide accountability across the board.

Who we are:
LitterWorks was founded by Erik Johnson, a 5th-generation Californian with over a decade of experience as a landscape design, installation, and maintenance contractor — the same trade LitterWorks partners with to scale its model. He's also spent 10+ years in environmental conservation, including board service with two conservation nonprofits, and was featured as a "Landscape Professional" on TBS's Movie and a Makeover. That combination — hands-on landscape operations experience plus conservation-sector relationships — is what shaped LitterWorks' subcontractor-based approach to litter abatement.