The practice, in one line
Notice, put right, move on. We don’t scold, we don’t photograph people, and we never make anyone feel accused. A place that is visibly cared for invites care from the next person.
Before you go
- Wear gloves, and bring a bag you can carry when it’s full.
- On a road, walk facing traffic and stay off the pavement. A shoulder with no room is a walk for another day.
- Never walk a highway ramp or a limited-access road. Interstate and Turnpike ramps, and any road where people aren’t allowed on foot, are off-limits to everyone, even with permission. Photograph it from a safe spot, like a parking lot or sidewalk, and report it.
- Don’t walk alone anywhere you wouldn’t walk alone anyway.
- Stop when the bag is full. A partial walk is a good walk.
- Never photograph a person, and never photograph a child holding litter.
What you collect
Bottles and cans, wrappers, cups, bags, packaging. Anything safe to handle comes home with you.
- Never leave a full bag behind. A full bag on the ground looks like dumping, whatever your reason. Carry it out, or photograph it and email us.
- Put trash into receptacles, never take it out. Don’t reach into public trash cans, business receptacles, or dumpsters, even for a redeemable bottle.
- Ask first on private property. Picking up a few pieces while you’re there is fine. A planned cleanup on a business lot, campground, or golf course needs the owner’s permission.
Before you throw anything away, photograph your finds. Lay them out on a small tarp in one layer, labels face up, with anything you’re unsure about set to one side. Then lift the corners and pour it all back into the bag. Log your walk with the photo. You can tell us what you picked up, and we confirm it from your photos.
Sorting what you found, and how we count it
When you get home, make three piles. One question sorts the bottles and cans: can you see the barcode?
- Deposit. Bottles and cans with the barcode showing, even if they’re dented or crushed. The barcode is how CLYNK and the redemption center know what it is, so if you can see it, you’re all set. Most are worth 5 cents. Wine and liquor bottles are worth 15.
- Recycling. Bottles and cans with no barcode left: the label fell off, or the can is flattened so the barcode is torn. They can’t be redeemed, but they still recycle, so they stay out of the landfill. Add any other clean plastic, glass, and metal your town takes.
- Trash. Everything else.
Keep the recycling pile out of your CLYNK bag. A bottle the machine can’t read gets rejected, and someone has to sort it all over again.
Watch for look-alikes. Some alcohol is made to look like a kid’s drink. Squeeze pouches like SlamZees are about 15 percent alcohol and look just like juice pouches. In Maine they carry a 15 cent deposit, so they go in the deposit pile with the wine and liquor bottles. Keep them in your photo. We count them as alcohol, so your walk shows what’s really out there.
How we count your walk. We count everything we can see clearly in your photo. Every item you carried out counts toward your town’s total. Only the deposit pile counts as deposit containers. Most are worth 5 cents, and wine and liquor bottles are worth 15. Because the count comes from your photo, every number is at least what you picked up. It’s our best observation, not an exact tally, so clear photos with labels face up make it closer.
What you leave
These stay where they are. We never want you hurt in any way, and none of these is worth the risk.
- Sharps. Needles, syringes, anything with a blade. Not with gloves, not with a grabber, not into a bottle.
- Containers of unknown fluid. A bottle or jug of liquid you can’t identify, fuel cans, paint, anything leaking or with a chemical smell.
- Anything in water. Wet footing and slick rock are how people get hurt. One bottle isn’t worth it.
- Anything that could be someone’s. Clothing, footwear, a pack, bedding, a tarp. You can’t tell discarded from set down, so leave it and say nothing about it.
- Dump sites and bulk items. Carts, tires, furniture, appliances, construction debris. Report them. Don’t clean them.
- Anything you can’t lift safely alone.
How to report it
Your job ends with a photo.
- Photograph it where it is. Wide enough to place it, close enough to identify it.
- Make sure the photo has a location. See below for how.
- Send it through Log a walk, or email it to us, with one plain sentence and the nearest landmark.
- We take it from there. Our Program Manager sends it to whoever owns the spot: the town, the landowner, MaineDOT, or the Maine Turnpike Authority, and tracks it until it’s cleaned.
On your next walk past, look once. Gone or still there, tell us. Both answers help.
Log a walk →
We report. We do not pursue.
One accurate report, sent once, from people who never exaggerate and never nag. That is how Keep Maine Beautiful becomes the group a public works director is glad to hear from.
Injured or tangled wildlife
Never handle it. Call the Maine Warden Service at 207-287-8000. For a stranded seal, whale, or dolphin, call the Maine stranding hotline at 800-532-9551. Help may not come right away. You still did the right thing.
Sending a location
- iPhone camera: Settings, Privacy & Security, Location Services, Camera, then While Using the App.
- Android camera: turn on Location in Settings, then turn on location tags in your camera settings.
- Or drop a pin: in Apple Maps or Google Maps, press and hold your spot until a pin appears, tap Share, and email it to us.
- Email the photo. Never text it. A text message strips the location. On an iPhone, tap Options when you share and make sure Location is on.
Names and addresses stay private
Mail, receipts, shipping labels, and prescription labels turn up often. Never photograph or post anything readable. A label shows where a delivery went, not who littered. Even if it did, we wouldn’t say so. The Crew moves trash quietly and never blames.
If you carry Crew cards
Hand one to someone you meet on your walk. You’re holding a bag of what you just picked up, so the invitation explains itself. Offer, never press. One sentence is enough: what you’re doing, and that they’re welcome to join. The minimum requirement is loving Maine.
Need cards? Ask for them when you log your walk, or email us. We’ll mail them to you, free.
Questions about any of this? Email us.
Join the Crew →