Meet the kayaker who's removing Pittsburghers' litter from the Ohio River
On a sunny July morning, Tom Ross of the North Hills gets in his kayak and hits the Ohio River along the city's Chateau neighborhood.
His day on the way will undo the damage people are causing. Trash, litter and otherwise discarded stuff are just clumped up along the shorelines.
"I think if they really knew what it looked like up close, I think they would be shocked and embarrassed," Ross said.
About three times a week, Ross will go along a 2.5-mile section of the river cleaning it up. He is welcomed with scenes of trash every time.
"I fill up my kayak as much as I can, and sadly, it's not even very difficult," Ross said.
Litter is a problem around the world and the Pittsburgh region is no different. If you look along roadways and waterways, it's there, causing environmental damage and being unsightly. According to state Department of Environmental Protection, there are more than 500 million pieces of litter on just the roads.
Ross and his wife spend part of their time in Florida and started their work there. He wondered what the litter situation was at home.
"And sure enough, boy, it was way worse than I could have ever imagined," Ross said.
Since the summer of 2022, Ross has been working to clean up the river and other waterways. He will find just about anything and everything: tires, barrels, kegs and even traffic cones. The most common item is plastic bottles. He picked up about 130 when KDKA-TV joined him one morning.
"There's no slow in the flow. I'm not seeing any improvement. No matter how many bags I collect, I'm not seeing any improvement; it just keeps flowing in," Ross said.
He estimates that he's removed more than 18,000 bottles from the Ohio River.
To bring the attention of litter to others, he's created social media pages where he documents his efforts and calls on elected leaders for preventative efforts.
"We cannot clean our way out of this," Ross said.
And it goes beyond those in office. Ross says you don't have to go buy a kayak, but there are things we can all do, like if you see something, throw it out.
"You don't have to go crazy with this. Just make a little bit of difference. If we had a lot of people making a little bit of difference, I think it would make a huge difference," Ross said.
Up the creek with a lot more than just a paddle is how you will find Ross. You can follow his work on and at TommyPicsUpTrash.
