With fall colors starting to show their splendor and the air quality slowly improving, more people than ever are visiting Bay Area parks.
But that’s proven to be a double-edged sword as garbage continues to be a challenge during the coronavirus pandemic.
It's almost enough to ruin the great outdoors.
There’s trash littering trails and garbage cans overflowing in parks.
Some areas are worse than others.
"It depends on what neighborhood you’re in," Oakland City Council Member Dan Kalb told KCBS Radio. "There have been some neighborhoods where you see an increase in litter and trash, other neighborhoods where you see much less."
City officials have an ongoing challenge with trash building up at homeless encampments, although the city is starting to have regular garbage collection at those sites. Everywhere else, it's up to the public to refuse to be part of the refuse problem.
"I think some people are doing what they should be doing, sort of a packing in and packing out whatever they’re taking with them," Kalb said. "Others may see the bins and just throw things there. We have to hope that people are responsible and are treating their parks, all of our parks, are kindly as possible."
Many Bay Area parks are seeing twice as many visitors during the pandemic.
