#UntrashThePlanet is Dedicated to Restoring Our Natural Places & Building Community
By Alison Huetter
Trash is something we’ve been seeing all too often in the Bay Area. East Bay resident Stephan Orme used some of his ‘covid-time’ to do something about it. Since January he’s been organizing groups to clean trashed areas around the Bay Area.
Untrash.It has grown to almost 500 members, and has picked up over 2,200 bags of trash to date. On a typical Sunday, 30-35 volunteers show up for two hour work parties and are provided with gloves, bags, safety vests, and a picking tool.
“I think that’s what brings people out week after week is that it is the perfect thing to do during these high stress times,” said Orme. “We are out in a beautiful area, we are making a difference, and it’s very satisfying work. And it’s socially distant.”
Untrash.It is particularly focused on untrashing urban-wildland border areas, and currently has seven active projects: Berkeley Marina, Aquatic Park in Berkeley, Berkeley Streets, Mosswood Park in Oakland, Grizzly Park Boulevard, Strawberry Canyon and Wildcat Canyon.
Untrashing wildland areas is just the start of their work, once they untrash an area, they then work on changing the social norms, and fixing the structural issues that lead to trashing in the first place. Those efforts have been successful at driving down the amount of new trash by over 90% in some areas. Now they want to scale.
Orme is one of those tech guys that you can’t hate. His BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) is to #UntrashThePlanet.
Seriously, the planet.
Orme, who is a product manager by trade and has taken 5 products from concept to launch, is raising money to build a software platform to help launch 10,000 Untrash Groups ‘to organize, track, and inspire’ similar volunteer efforts around the world. He also plans to launch ‘an Uber-like service’ where anyone can sponsor an area, and ‘trained, certified and insured untrashers’ then rapidly clean it.
Orme is actively seeking investors, developers and partners for this effort. If you can help make it happen, please get in touch.
For more about Untrash.It, their approach, projects, or to sign up for Sunday 2-hour work parties, please go to: UnTrash.it
