Opinion: Volunteers alone can’t clean up Portland’s trash
“You could dump 10 large bags of garbage in Pioneer Square tonight and drive off without fear of being caught or penalized,” I tell friends. Overly dramatic? I don’t think so. According to Metro government’s RID Patrol, which removes dumped trash, crews cleaned up 2,338 sites in 2021. Of those, only one citation was issued for just $154. As a native Portlander and founder of “AdoptOneBlock” a nonprofit whose mission is trash and litter removal, I have a unique perspective on our city’s growing public trash problem. What was once my beautiful hometown is sadly now “dump town”.