GALVESTON COUNTY, Texas — A man in Galveston is fighting litter bugs with Litter Buggies: machines hand built by Glenn Morris that can hold up to 50 pounds of trash at a time.
“They are basically radio-controlled trash cans,” Morris said. “A lot of folks wonder what they are. Kids follow us around. Last summer we had kids that followed us an eighth of a mile down the beach before their parents realized and we needed to turn them around!”
The saltwater proof machines travel up to 4 miles an hour and can run 2 to 4 miles on one battery. Morris takes them out for a spin to collect trash nearly every day.
Morris willing to build these for people at cost, about a thousand bucks. Although the machines are neat, the reason they’re needed is anything but.
“On the weekends the tourists come out and they don’t care and so they just leave it (garbage). It’s a sad thing. I mean, it’s really sad," Morris said. "A couple days ago we were out there and I guess we came upon a campsite and it was just covered in beer bottles. Kids are going to run out there on that beach and just cut their feet all up.”
Morris said he picks up about 250 gallons of beach trash a week, usually averaging 30 gallons per weekday and 100 gallons over the weekend. The most he has collected during one day is 150 gallons.
Morris said his wife or neighbor often go, too, collecting 5 gallons of trash at a time and then disposing it in Galveston Island trash cans. They also take their own garbage bags in case the Island’s bins are full.
For more information about Morris’ Litter Buggies, click here.