I'm starting to suspect I might be cynical. I was pretty impressed at the "1,000,000 cigarette butts that I removed from the environment" but I couldn't help but think "moved into what?" which brought this (https://youtu.be/3m5qxZm_JqM) to mind:

   [Interviewer:] Into another environment….

   [Senator Collins:] No, no, no. it’s been towed beyond the environment, it’s not in the environment

   [Interviewer:] Yeah, but from one environment to another environment.

   [Senator Collins:] No, it’s beyond the environment, it’s not in an environment. It has been towed beyond the environment.

   [Interviewer:] Well, what’s out there?

   [Senator Collins:] Nothing’s out there…

Also, I couldn't help but wonder if he was removing trash at a faster rate than it was being added. Picking up litter is a good thing certainly, but we really need to get people to stop creating it in the first place. Even properly disposed of all that trash is a massive problem, but I'd love to see more effort getting people to clean up after themselves. A very long time ago I'd see PSAs with owls imploring us to "Give a hoot" and fake indians crying. Was that helpful? Does that kind of thing even exist today? Now that nobody watches TV are they pushed at kids on tiktok?

▲ jezzamon 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Re the environment thing, practical engineering has a good video on landfills. There's a bunch of engineering that goes into making waste less harmful https://practical.engineering/blog/2024/9/3/the-hidden-engin...

▲ c22 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It looks like he might keep them in his own local environment for photo documentary / artistic purposes.

	▲	autoexec 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		He's got to have a decent bit of land to keep it all which makes it all the more impressive that he found all that trash in his city.