FOREST PARK (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Some west suburban residents get together once a month to take a walk and pick up garbage.
It's called "plalking," or "picking up litter while walking."
The effort happens one Saturday a month in west suburban Forest Park and is organized by Skye Lavin, the manager of adult services at the Forest Park Public Library.
She and several other volunteers, sometimes by the dozen, use bags and trash-grabbers provided by the Department of Public Works to pick up cigarette butts, pop cans, candy wrappers, beer bottles and other refuse.
“You'd be surprised what people throw out their car window or on the sidewalk without a second thought as to who is going pick it up,” Lavin said during a recent interview.
“Hopefully, we can call attention to the fact that there needs to be systemic change. Your mother always used to tell you to pick up after yourself. Well, Mother Earth wants you to pick up after yourself."