Jenny Pacillo
When Paul Ledoux started picking up trash on walks with his dog, Sadie, in 2019, he wasn’t trying to start a movement. “I would see the same trash along the way and figured that if I was already out walking, I could do something about it,” Ledoux says. What began as a small personal habit opened his eyes to how much litter was scattered throughout the city. In 2023, after a few years of cleaning up around his own neighborhood, Ledoux began organizing cleanups on social media under the name IPickUpWorcesterLitterVeryWell (if you know, you know) and encouraged anyone who was interested to join.
“Over the years, it’s grown from something I did on my own into a network of neighbors, volunteers, artists, businesses and community organizations working together to make Worcester a better place,” he explains. That network eventually became the nonprofit Worcester Litter.
Ledoux’s Instagram posts have a DIY feel and read like a punk show flyer. Some of the cleanup details appear to be cut from a newspaper and pasted slightly crooked, while others request “good vibes only.” Even Ledoux’s “Worcester Litter” logo is a play on the iconic Black Flag design.
The grassroots spirit continues to be a major part of Ledoux’s mission, as he grew from IPickUpWorcesterLitter into an official nonprofit, Worcester Litter Incorporated, in the spring of 2026. “The goal is to create more opportunities for people to participate and to make community-led litter abatement and mutual aid an ongoing effort rather than something that happens only when a few individuals have the time or resources,” Ledoux says. Going the nonprofit route also allows Ledoux to continue growing in a sustainable way by fostering local partnerships, pursuing grant funding and working on larger-scale projects.
But what’s a clean up article without digging into what actually makes up the litter in Worcester? “There’s no shortage of weird things (the weirder, the better to be honest) out there,” Ledoux says, “and sometimes the things we find tell a bigger story about the city.” He lists off trash scores ranging from skateboards and car bumpers to buckets filled with empty nips.
Whatever the trash is, Ledoux is here to help and is quick to offer support to anyone else who wants to get involved by lending his supplies or developing shared resources. “We don’t need one organization to do everything,” he explains. “We need more organizations bringing their strengths together.”
For Ledoux, Worcester Litter is about more than cleaning up trash. It’s about inclusion, sustainability and making sure every neighborhood in the city gets attention. “You don’t need special equipment or experience to make a difference. Sometimes it’s just picking up a few pieces of litter while you’re out walking, helping a neighbor or bringing a friend to a cleanup,” says Ledoux.
Feel Free to Participate:
Follow IPickUpWorcesterLitterVeryWell on Instagram or visit www.WorcesterLitter.com for a calendar of cleanup opportunities
