When we ask readers what they are concerned about in the city, one of the most common responses we get is littering.

Exhibit A: “I really can’t get over how much litter is just left on the sides of the roads here on just about every road I’ve been on in the city.”

Exhibit B: “Can you help with uncovering why our city recently appears to be covered with roadside trash?”

You get the idea — people see trash piling up around the Oak City, and they don’t like it.

The challenge:

We don’t like seeing litter around either, so we’re issuing a challenge for you to help clean up our city.

When you’re walking from your car to your office or if you're coming out of the bar after last call and you see a piece of trash, pick it up + throw it away. 🗑

If every one of you reading this picks up one piece of trash a day that’s nearly 20,000 a day.
We did some math — that’s 140,000 pieces of trash off the streets weekly.
If you all did it every single day for a year, that’s 7.3 million — yes, million — pieces of litter that are no longer on the streets or sidewalks around Raleigh.
That’s part one of the challenge — pick up trash. Part two is to show off + inspire others.
Take a photo of yourself doing this simple but intentional act, then tag us @RALtoday #RALtoday on Instagram, Twitter + Facebook. #PicsOrItDidntHappen

Our hope is that in six months or a year, we are able to put together a giant collage of people all over the Triangle doing something small that can have a big impact + you know we’re going to be doing it ourselves, too.

If you want to take it a little farther, volunteering with Clean Jordan Lake and Keep NC Beautiful are other great ways to help keep the Raleigh area looking great.

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