Author: Grace Li

Dedicated to making a difference in our community, Andy Wang cleans up trash in illegal dumping sites in the San Francisco Bay Area. At work, he is a software engineer working at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Off work, he cleans the community. Initially picking up trash in Livermore, where he lives, he has since then expanded to cities all over the San Francisco Bay Area, including Dublin, Oakland, San Jose, Menlo Park, and San Francisco. 

When cleaning up trash, he goes out and scopes areas for a large buildup of trash, and with his tools, he cleans them up. This toolset consists of trash tongs/pickers, clear 33-gallon bags, leather gloves, 5-gallon buckets, a rake, a broom and dustpan, hand sanitizer, and a sharps container. He can fill as many as 60 bags when cleaning up trash in these areas, which he disposes of by following the city guidelines of the numerous cities he cleans trash in. In most cities, he can contact the city and they will pick up the bags of trash. However, in other cities, this process is more convoluted, and he takes the bags to the nearest transfer station himself, paying out-of-pocket to dispose of the trash. 

Image taken from @pengweather on Instagram

Posting on Instagram and Reddit (@pengweather), he displays his community-cleaning efforts, transforming an illegal dumping site full of trash to a clean and spotless area. He also gives tips and advice on cleaning trash, and has amassed a loyal following who have been influenced by the amazing work he does to follow in his footsteps. In the comments of his Reddit and Instagram posts, it is not uncommon to see people writing about how Wang’s work has inspired them to pick up trash on walks, on the way to work, etc. One person in particular states, “It’s work that nobody else does or wants to do and you’ve found a way to inspire people across the bay area to start doing this. I bring a trash bag with my kids when we walk along the iron horse trail and we pick up trash. All because of you.” Wang even hosts clean-up meetings, where he and a group of people band together to clean up an area. His journey shows that anybody can contribute to making a change, a great one at that. 

Why does he do this? On Reddit he responds: “Because why not? We live in such a beautiful region of the United States and it is an utter disappointment to see it covered in trash. It is fun and very rewarding. Sure, it is a lot of work and takes time, but seeing the end result and the people you made a difference to is unforgettable.” With his social media accounts, he hopes to inspire others to take part in keeping their neighborhoods clean. If more people become involved in picking up trash and keeping the area clean, neighborhoods will soon be much cleaner, and people will also think twice about littering, perpetuating positive behavior against littering, and keeping our streets cleanly and safe. 

What people don’t realize is that illegal dumping has a terrible effect on the environment and the well-being of people living in this environment. In a particular post, Wang shares that while cleaning a children’s playground, he found used syringes, posing a gruesome safety hazard to children. His work in picking up trash not only works to keeping our neighborhoods clean and more beautiful, but also contributes to the safety of residents. 

Wang often returns to sites he has cleaned before, and finds that a majority of them stay cleaner than how they were before, which is a promising sign proving the significance of the amazing contributions he makes to the community, and serves as a beacon of light inspiring others to do the same. 

Locals are very appreciative of the work Wang does, and he states that their kinds words encourage him to continue cleaning up trash. Often, he is even offered donations as tokens of gratitude, which he declines. He says that he’s ‘just a normal guy’, and just hopes to clean up neighborhoods by picking up trash, and hopes to encourage others to do the same.