Litter cleanups often take some planning and pre-scouting areas before an event:
Permission-Contacting the owner(s) of the area we want to clean, whether it be a city, county, state park or conservation area, a federal wildlife refuge, sometimes a private landowner.
Trash disposal-Trash has to go somewhere; we work to arrange dumpsters on-site or a site nearby to take the trash volunteers collect.
What's out there-Where is the trash is located, whether it is small, large and heavy, a mixture of both. Whether it requires tools to remove.
Physical ability required-The type of terrain; is it heavily sloped or level, rocky, full of brush, clear, any heavy lifting, etc. We want to be able to let volunteers know the level of difficulty in cleaning an area so they can decide if it fits their level of physical ability.
Safety-Pre-scouting allows us to see if there are items out there that might be dangerous. We cannot find everything, so we always ask volunteers to keep their eyes open and be aware of their surroundings and anything they might handle. There is always the risk that items found may be dangerous such as barrels with unknown liquids, weapons, drug paraphernalia, pressurized containers.
LOWG volunteers try their best to ensure the area is safe and volunteers know what to expect.