Colorado woman spends vacation crisscrossing the U.S., picking up trash

When Stefani Shamrowicz decided to go on a "spontaneous road trip" across the United States, it wasn't just so she could visit family and friends — she also wanted to pick up trash along the way.

Shamrowicz, 24, lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, and got the idea to go on litter patrol after Earth Day, when she had a month off of work. During her journey, Shamrowicz picked up more than 125 bags of trash, containing over 1,600 gallons of garbage. She estimates that 80 percent of the trash she picked up was plastic bottles, with face masks also a common sight.

Shamrowicz was able to visit New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York, and met different people during her stops who helped her collect the trash. "I'm not going to be able to pick up everything," she told SWNS, "but if everyone starts picking up some on walks or runs, that's where the magic is."

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