Trash CleanUp Drive in Frisco TX-US and Bangalore India

Hi - My name is Ronit Patil; I am a high school student in Frisco, TX. Growing up in Bangalore, a city in India, has been a humbling experience. If you actually look around, you will see that this amazing nation supports a population of 1.4 billion and local citizens are driven enough to team up for initiatives such as local area trash removal, lake revival etc.

I have seen my mom, Rita Gera, participate in such initiatives and remove tons of trash around Kannanmangala Lake for example - which is now an amazing water body and habitat for several birds and animals.

Inspired as a kid I joined my mom and her team members to clean up the lakes and support the cause – I ran 5K with my sister and family to raise funds for lake cleaning and trash removal.

The Kannanmangala Lake is now a beautiful serene water body offering habitat to several birds and animals, a get away for local residents and water for farming.

But I couldn’t help and wonder why there is so much trash to begin with – is it just due to one-time-use plastic or peoples’ uncontrollable shopping of not needed items due to the influence from businesses’ marketing strategies?

After moving to the Texas, US in 2020, I noticed relatively less trash (maybe because of a smaller population); however, as I went to more populated places, I found more plastic bags stuck to bushes, and water bottles on pathways, further boosting my questioning about consumer markets and the discarding of one-time-use items.

Immaterial of the country, there is trash – but why is there so much trash? Why do people buy so many things to begin with? Is it really just because of market strategies and influencers’ influence? Or people are just bored or unhappy – so either they eat more food than needed quantities that adversely impacts their health and depletes resources or they do mindless shopping that creates too much stocked up things in homes. Did you know the average American household has 300,000 items!

Here's some information about trash generation in Frisco, Texas:

I founded StuffBud -- a market place that allows people like you and me to rent items we don’t need everyday instead of buying (focusing on reducing part of reduce-reuse-recycle). All proceeds from StuffBud go towards buying supplies to clean up local Frisco, TX trails and also support trash removal efforts in Bangalore India by organizations like ForceGW.

At the end of the day, I think it comes down to mind-set and desire to ensure we don’t over-consume to exploit our natural resources. What we need, we need – just ensure to reduce-reuse-recycle!

I would want to request the generous donors on GoFundMe, to support my next initiative to clean up Taychas Hunters Creek Trail in Frisco, TX and also support ForceGW with trash removal around Bommenahalli lake, please donate!