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Kansas City communities taking steps to pick up trash

Posted at 5:00 PM, Apr 05, 2019
and last updated 2019-04-05 18:16:57-04

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As the Kansas City metro continues to thaw out after a long winter, some may have noticed trash and litter strewn throughout their communities.

With many city crews focused on fixing potholes, some communities are pitching in to clean up the mess.

"I think people appreciate that we don’t go out and just make arrests. We also go out and care about our community and want to keep it clean," said Sgt. LeeAnn Shelton with the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department’s community policing unit.

Shelton and six other officers in the unit spent Friday picking up trash in the area of 7th Street and Metropolitan Avenue after receiving several complaints from neighbors.

"It has a possibility of even deterring crime, knowing that this isn’t ‘riffraff,’ that people care about this area,” Shelton said.

That message resonates across the state line. The Kansas City, Missouri, Parks and Recreation Department has launched a social media challenge called “KCTrashTag,” an initiative to motivate the public to help clean up their communities.

"The whole idea for the project is to try and get some help because our crews, just like a lot of other Kansas City crews, have spent a lot of time doing a lot of other things this winter," said Leslie Alford, communications and development manager for the KCMO Parks and Recreation Department.

City leaders aren't the only ones joining the challenge.

Charles Leap and his friend filled nearly a dozen bags with trash at Indian Mound Park on Friday.

"It’s giving back to the community to beautify one of our parks, which are an asset to our community," Leap said. "Our parks should be someplace where we can go and enjoy them and look at how beautiful (nature) is. When it’s littered with trash, it’s not as enjoyable."

If you participate in the challenge, KCMO Parks and Recreation requests that once you fill up the bags, put them by a curb or trash can in the park. Then call the department at 816-513-7500 to let them know where to pick up the bags.