A Mission of Love

Bonnie Calvin came from the small town of Middletown, Ohio, and participated in Keep Middletown Beautiful, which was a part of Keep America Beautiful. While teaching first grade, she used to walk to school and pick up litter, so for Bonnie, picking up litter on Marco was a normal carryover. She retired to Marco 12 years ago and fell in love with the weather and the beauty of Marco Island.

Bill Hulbig moved to Marco five years ago and loves the way the Island is laid out. As a boater, he enjoys the easy access to the Gulf year-round. For the past seven months, Bill and Bonnie have made it a mission to pick up litter during their morning walks. Bonnie said, “Marco means so much to me, and I hate to see it defaced by litter.”  Bill added, “We are invested in Marco and want to keep it pristine.”

They started by picking up small pieces of litter from Cape Marco to Winterberry or from South Barfield to Publix/San Marco Road. They gradually expanded their routes, now walking seven days a week for at least one and a half hours or more depending on the amount of litter they encounter.

Bonnie and Bill also became more safety conscious, wearing safety vests and gloves as well as carrying a small red bucket with a spare litter bag. Bill, the inventor and tinkerer, is also having fun designing an easy-to-use, efficient and environmentally friendly grabber.

On this morning, Bonnie and Bill were at Indian Hill and Caxambas Drive, an area which, according to Bill, you would NOT associate with litter nor for Marco as a whole, with the median selling price for homes for June 2023 at $1.7 million. In less than half an hour, they’ve filled up their buckets plus an extra bag with glass bottles, single-use plastic products, aluminum cans and food containers. There was so much more litter than expected so they decided to come back another day. They make sure to stay on the sidewalks and do not venture into private properties. 

According to Bill, 75 to 80% of the litter they pick up is related to take-out foods and plastic beverage containers, chip bags and plastic wrappers. Bonnie and Bill are often seen walking from Cape Marco on Collier while Bill might continue on to San Marco. Bonnie would stay on the sidewalk while Bill checked the medians. He observed that medians contain twice as much litter than sidewalks. The median is on the driver's side, and it is convenient for drivers to toss litter out the window onto them. Prickly bushes also make it more difficult to retrieve litter, and Bonnie commented that she used to see a woman, part of the lawn maintenance crew, who would pick out the litter from bushes, but she has not seen her for a while. 

Another observation from both Bill and Bonnie is that most are likely repeat litterers and with the absence of visible Do Not Litter Signs, they have no incentive to keep the island clean. Bill also commented that if all the construction stopped, they would have much less litter to pick up. Though most construction sites have dumpsters, food packaging is often left on the ground. 

On one bad day last month at the intersection of San Marco and Barfield, in half an hour, they picked up at least 500 pieces of trash each behind Walgreens, the gas station and Publix. Bonnie also picked up over 100 toxic cigarette butts last week, which she brought home to count and safely disposed of! All these during off season! 

Are you making a difference? Both replied yes! According to Bonnie, “people have stopped their cars to ask our names and to say thank you; half the people asked if we work for the City. When we tell them no, they ask “Why are you doing this?”  We reply, “because we love Marco and litter hurts our wildlife and our island paradise.”