Meet the ‘litterbug’ who wants you to help clean up Basalt parks

When you volunteer personal time and money to beautify a public space, you’re allowed to bend the rules of the dictionary (in the name of wordplay) (for your cause).

“I call myself a litterbug. I’m going to bug you until you agree to help me,” joked Charles Barth, 64, the man behind behind the volunteer effort to pick up litter at one of the Town of Basalt’s public outdoor spaces, also known as “Friends of Ponderosa Park.”

He started his volunteering project almost three months ago after noticing a buildup of litter while out for walks along the Ponderosa Park trail. He bought a grabber for himself and just got to work. It’s been a one-man operation so far, but Barth hopes to recruit more volunteers to help pick up trash. Equipped with a garbage bag-lined bucket, an extend grabber, and a green shirt that reads “Friends of Ponderosa Park,” he’s out every Sunday.

“I started feelings sad walking this trail and seeing the riparian environment full of garbage,” he said. The park runs adjacent to the Roaring Fork River. Public spaces in the park and along its trail attract litter, as parkgoers accidentally or intentionally leave behind evidence of their presence.

After a few trips out, Barth contacted Basalt Public Works and they helped beef up his operation. A shed in the park holds his supplies now, plus extra supplies for future volunteers. It’s stocked with Lowe’s buckets, trash bags, gloves, grabbers, safety vests and more.

He lines the buckets with a trash bag to keep the litter contained. Not the greenest practice, he’ll admit, but function and practicality matter when hauling garbage.

After getting the gear all set, Barth heads over to the gas station next to the roundabout. The woods behind it flirt with the park perimeter and they’re teeming with litter.

Beer bottles and cans fill up the bucket rapidly, in just one trip Barth picked up at least two six-packs plus a 40-ounce bottle. Cigarette stubs are another common find, plus miscellaneous plastic wrapping. Receipts, cardboard, an errant sock, and many other random discarded or forgotten items fill up the rest.

Barth said that weather is the best determining factor in how much litter he can expect to pick up in a day, but he averages about 10-15 pounds. He weighs it with a tool similar to a personal luggage weight by hanging a trash bag off of it. He reports those numbers back to Basalt Public Works. If the weather’s been good, people leave their trash outside. If it’s rainy, snowy, or cold, the haul is lighter for him. Since he started 12 weeks ago, he’s only missed one Sunday — and it was because of snow.

Most of the litter is innocuous, if not just a little demoralizing. But Barth said he’s seen some disturbing garbage, like gas station paper towels used as toilet paper. And even though what he picks up out of public space could breed enough cynicism to lose faith in the community, Barth makes an effort to not take it that far.

“You don’t profile who might be responsible for any piece of litter,” he said. “It’s a good psychological goal not to judge people and just do the duty.”

Barth served in the U.S. Army and was stationed all over the world working as an intelligence officer. He moved to the valley in 1979 and made a second career out of restaurant and hospitality work. Now he’s retired, volunteering and working gigs as they come up. He recently served as an election judge for the Nov. 7 Coordinated Election.

After collecting about eight pounds of litter outside the perimeter of Ponderosa Park and in the woods immediately surrounding it, Barth makes his way down the riverfront trail, paying extra attention to areas it seemed like people gathered.

Getting people to join him in the effort has been a challenge. After months of regular trash pickups and a hearty Letters to the Editor campaign, it’s still just a one-man show. All the time spent in the park has caught the attention of some locals after seeing Barth out so often and chatting him up.

One man walking on the trail recognized Barth, stopped to say hello, and commended him for his efforts. Good-naturedly, Barth prodded the man to grab a bucket and grabber right then or sometime soon. The man brushed off the invitation with a chuckle and continued on his walk, all the while speaking highly of Barth’s efforts.

Life is busy, Barth conceded after the man was out of earshot. He doesn’t begrudge anyone who supports him in theory instead of in practice. He said that sometimes he’ll get a free coffee from a 7-Eleven employee for his efforts, especially when he goes beyond the borders the park all the way over the bridge to Two Rivers Road. But he’s thought a lot about what the volunteer program would look like.

Teenagers and older is the target age range for him, as trekking through some of the off-trail parts of the park could be tricky for younger kids. And the adult nature of some of the litter isn’t suited for children, Barth said. While he might spend hours out in the park making rounds, Barth said he would hope volunteers commit to a one-hour shift from noon to 1 p.m. on Sundays.

“You don’t want your kids picking up beer bottles, and I get that,” he said. “But I chose one hour at noon Sundays for people’s schedules. I’ll always be here. Mother Nature seems to smile on me for the rest of the week.”

FOPP doesn’t need to confine itself to just Ponderosa Park, Barth said. With more people, he hopes to expand to Confluence Park and beyond Basalt. Another goal for FOPP is 501c3 status to help the organization raise money for more t-shirts and boost FOPP’s legitimacy for future partnerships.

“It’s a noble cause for anyone, even if I just get a squad,” Barth said, jokingly referencing his Army days. “I don’t need a platoon just yet.”

As winter progresses, Barth said his weekly pickups will depend on snowfall. But as long as the ground, and any litter, is visible, he will spend Sunday afternoons picking up litter at Ponderosa Park.

If you’d like to help out, the pickup starts at noon and last until about 1 p.m. Barth will meet you with a bucket, a grabber, and a t-shirt for your efforts.

At the end of the trail, looping back up Emma Road in front of Stubbies, Barth bent down to pick up a few coins.

“Sometimes I get paid,” he joked. It amounted to 57 cents.