Millions of pounds of trash. Is there hope for Tacoma’s litter problem?
We’ve all seen it before.
Fast food bags, cigarette butts, loose car parts and other discarded items seemingly sprouting from street corners and roadsides like a stubborn weed.
Though city and community groups have picked up millions of pounds of trash since the pandemic, keeping Tacoma clean has proven to be an ongoing challenge.
Loads of litter
During the first years of the pandemic, when many clean-up efforts were halted, a backlog of trash piled up along Tacoma’s main thoroughfares.
In 2021, it became clear that something needed to be done.
“[Litter] has been something that’s been around for a while, especially post pandemic,” said City Council member John Hines, who helped launch Tidy-Up Tacoma. “It’s something that’s definitely escalated a little bit since I’ve been here.”
After frequently hearing about the garbage issue from constituents during his first campaign, Hines realized there was no organized way to address litter in the city.
“People don’t feel as safe in places that are litter-strewn, graffiti-strewn,” he said. “If the city can’t pick the litter up off the street, then how do people expect us to do the bigger issues that the city is facing?”
Trashed streets aren’t just an aesthetic blight. Litter is a health hazard that puts humans and other animals in danger, often getting into waterways and polluting sensitive habitats.
With the help of the mayor and eight different city departments, Hines helped the city launch the Tidy-Up Tacoma program in September 2021, at the time a pilot program that first focused on pick-up efforts in 13 business districts.
Now, the program works to clean areas specifically requested by Tacoma citizens through Tacoma 311.
Crews can usually respond within two business days and will bring machinery like a claw truck for construction material or a litter vacuum to suck trash out of storm drains as needed, said Arly Hyatt, who manages the Tidy-Up Tacoma program.
The program has removed over 7 million pounds of litter in public areas since its inception, according to the Tidy-Up Dashboard.
Almost 3.5 million of those pounds came from last year alone.
“I would call that a success,” Hyatt said. “Without this program we wouldn’t have that level of cleanup in the community.
Litter isn’t just concentrated in a couple of Tacoma neighborhoods. As it turns out, trash doesn’t discriminate.
“Over the course of a year we spend time in every area in the community,” Hyatt said. “I wouldn’t say that necessarily there’s a specific area that gets more garbage than another.”
This year, the program is increasing the number of public garbage cans by 120, resulting in a total of 360 across the city. The new cans are located in dense commercial areas in the city, beyond the neighborhood business districts most are concentrated in, Hyatt said.
“We’ve anecdotally already seen that it’s been effective,” Hyatt said. “In the places where we’ve expanded and added new cans, we’re seeing visibly less litter. When you have an option, people tend to use it.”
Tidy-Up Tacoma’s efforts are funded by a 6% Solid Waste Excise Tax approved in the city’s 2023–2024 biennial budget.
Filthy freeways
Whether its unsecured building materials falling out of moving trucks or people intentionally tossing their trash, litter can quickly pile up along the roads.
Some of the worst littered areas are along Washington’s interstates, said Amber Smith, statewide litter prevention coordinator with the Department of Ecology.
The proximity to vehicles driving at highway speeds makes interstates a difficult and dangerous spot for people to clean.
“It really takes a village,” Smith said. “There’s a lot of us out there working to pick up litter.”
Pierce County has a dedicated clean-up crew from the Ecology Litter Corps program, as well as a contracted litter pickup crews through the Adopt-a-Highway Maintenance Corporation. This summer season will not feature the Litter Corps’ signature summer youth crew due to a hiring freeze making it difficult to get the shorter teen positions approved, Smith said.
There’s also teams from the Department of Corrections at the state and county level who aid in picking up litter.
Last year cleanup crews picked up 96,000 pounds of trash along 163 miles of Pierce County highways, Smith said.
Still, even the plethora of help from different agencies isn’t enough to address all of the roadside rubbish.
“We can’t pick our way out of this problem,” Smith said. “We really need everybody to help us keep that litter from hitting the ground in the first place.”
Smith suggests keeping a litter bag in your car, as well as ensuring loads in truck beds or on top of the vehicle are properly secured.
What can I do about litter?
If you’re a Tacoma resident frustrated with loads of litter and looking to take matters into your own hands, you have options.
In fact, a few community-based groups are already on it.
As the creator of local trash clean-up organization Oscar’s Enemies, Jessica Tweed has gotten up close and personal with a side of Tacoma few dare to sniff around.
It started in September 2020, when she picked up trash along Sixth Avenue on her birthday with family as a safe way to celebrate during the pandemic.
Tweed and her sister quickly realized the glowing opportunity for civic engagement in their hands.
Working together with the help of city resources, as well as inspiration from the trash-loving puppet from “Sesame Street,” Oscar’s Enemies was born, quickly evolving into regular community cleanups occurring one to two times a month.
Now, after perfecting the process over almost six years, close to 100 people show up for each clean up.
“It came from seeing a need for connection, to be a part of something, to do something safely while being outside,” Tweed said.
Since Oscar’s Enemies started, the volunteer group has picked up 55,383 pounds of trash, Tweed said.
The next litter pick-up takes place April 18 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Its location isn’t set yet, but will be announced on social media closer to the date.
Other local volunteer clean up groups include Litter Free 253 and Tacoma Trash Pandas.
If you’d like to start your own group, the city of Tacoma offers a Neighborhood Litter Patrol Program as part of the Tidy-Up Tacoma initiative, providing free supplies to clean public property or rights of way within city limits.
Those interested can register through Tacoma 311 or submit an application via email to litter@tacoma.gov.
This story was originally published March 31, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
CORRECTION: The city of Tacoma has 360 trash cans deployed as part of the Tidy-Up Tacoma program. A previous version of this story reported an incorrect number.
