LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. — For the past eight years, Donnie Schanuth has made it his weekly mission to walk more than a mile through Lehigh Acres with a trash bag in hand, cleaning up after his neighbors.
"I'd like to see Lehigh staying nice and clean. It's a nice city, so I don't mind doing it," Schanuth said.
Across Lehigh, he says the amount of litter varies dramatically from street to street.
"Sometimes there's a lot of trash all over. Sometimes it's very minimal. Some areas it's really, really bad. Other areas, it's not so it just fluctuates all the time," Schanuth said.
Click here to see Lehigh Acres Community Correspondent Victoria Quevedo speak with Donnie about his cleanup efforts.
County maps show Lehigh has the highest concentration of illegal dumping in all of Lee County. The county is partnering with Keep Lee County Beautiful to coordinate cleanups and educate neighbors about proper waste disposal.
But for Schanuth, the cause is deeply personal. At one bus stop, he maintains what he calls "Bob's Basket" - a trash can that may look ordinary to passersby but holds special meaning for him.
"We did have a neighborhood watch and a trash pickup, but he had a stroke, passed away," Schanuth said.
The basket sits at the bus stop as a reminder of Bob and serves as an encouragement to others to keep their trash off the ground.
"I like to see it clean. That's my main goal," Schanuth said.
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