A Bag Full of Perspective
I thought Wakulla was pretty clean. Then I filled a trash bag. 😊
This past Saturday, I participated in the 2026 International Coastal Cleanup with Keep Wakulla County Beautiful.
I went out thinking, Wakulla is relatively clean. How much trash can there really be?
Apparently, enough to fill my bag.
And that was the surprising part.
When you drive down the road or walk through an area, it can look perfectly clean. But once you actually start looking—along the grass, around the edges, tucked into places you normally walk right past—you begin seeing the cigarette butts, plastic, cans, bottles and all the little pieces of garbage that somehow end up on the ground.
One piece doesn't look like much. Neither does the next one.
But by the end of the morning, my bag told a different story.
I also met a couple there and started talking with them. They had driven an hour just to participate in the cleanup. They told me they had traveled to Jamaica, and seeing the amount of garbage along the roads and beaches there had really affected them. Now, whenever there is a cleanup event and they're able to participate, they do.
I thought that was pretty remarkable. They weren't cleaning up because someone made them. They weren't even cleaning up their own backyard. They drove an hour because somewhere along the way they decided that if they had an opportunity to leave a place a little cleaner than they found it, they would.
It was also a bit of a family affair for. Kids, grandparents — families were all out there together. Each wearing their own family “colors.” 😊 I was proudly wearing my Waypoint Properties hat and T-shirt while.
The displays at the event put even more perspective on what happens after we leave garbage behind. Some materials can remain in the environment for decades, centuries, or even longer. Here in Wakulla County, surrounded by water, wildlife and some incredibly beautiful natural areas, what gets tossed onto the ground doesn't necessarily stay where it lands.
One of the simplest messages at the event may have been the most important:
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.
And maybe add one more:
Pick it up.
Community isn't just where we live or work. It's something we participate in together.
Wakulla County is a beautiful place to live. Keeping it that way doesn't always require some enormous effort. Sometimes it just requires a trash bag, a couple of hours, and enough people who care enough to use them.
And yes — I filled mine. 😊
#KeepWakullaCountyBeautiful #InternationalCoastalCleanup #WakullaCounty #WakullaCountyFL #CrawfordvilleFL #FloridaCommunity #CoastalCleanup #CommunityMatters #VolunteerFlorida #KeepFloridaBeautiful #ReduceReuseRecycle #ProtectOurCoast #FloridaNature #LoveWhereYouLive #WaypointProperties #FindYourWayForward