Garbage; The Best Way To Clean Up Las Vegas

Author Mike O'Brian

November 29th, 2023 11:27 AM

Picking up garbage on the street with a stick

Okay, before you judge, just here us out…garbage on the streets, here’s the best way to clean up Las Vegas. It was an event they had over in Japan. Starting in 2008, the games have grown to include teams from all over the world! It was the World Cup for Picking Up Garbage!

Be serious, why didn’t we come up with this idea? Teams converged on Japan to basically, pick up garbage and win the title…whatever that title is! The British team came in, held their own and won the competition, but it wasn’t easy!

According to an article put out by Reuters, the team from Britain came in with a strategy and stuck to it. They beat out 21 other teams from all over the world collecting garbage. However, in Japan, they have a very high standard of cleanliness, so finding good garbage was hard to find.

The U.S. sent a team over, and one team member talked about the challenges of picking up litter in Japan…

But then The Mike & Carla Morning Show started thinking…why not Las Vegas? Putting together a local competition made up of teams from all over the city. Picking up litter throughout the streets of Las Vegas. Maybe start with parks and grow from there?

The grand prize could be the title and maybe even a cash prize at the end of the day. An event in our city where you would see the end result of it immediately. This could be an event for both adults and kids. Businesses putting together teams as well as kids from all different schools here in Clark County!

Oh, we think we have something here that can blow up! The M&C Morning Show is taking this to our promotional committee and seeing if we can’t make this happen! So, keep listening and stand by!

Mike O’Brian is the Program Director and Morning Show host on 96.3 KKLZ in Las Vegas, along with Carla Rea. He has been with the Beasley Media Group for almost 23 years. Mike was named one of the “Best Program Directors In America” by Radio Ink magazine. Over the years, “The Mike & Carla Morning Show” have been presented with a number of proclamations for their work in the community and numerous awards. Having lived in Las Vegas for over 35 years, he writes articles on living in Las Vegas, sports, and odd stories happening within the state of Nevada. Mike is the host of the morning show and program director of 96.3 KKLZ/Las Vegas. He has been doing mornings in Las Vegas for the past 38 years. Over the years, he has hosted a numerous amount of community events and has been the P.A. announcer for a number of sports teams in Las Vegas. He has written on living in Las Vegas, the sports teams here, as well as odd & little-known facts about Las Vegas & Nevada.

Las Vegas Ranks In Dirtiest Cities In America; See Who's Number One

This may not be one of our proudest moments but Las Vegas ranks as one of the dirtiest cities in the U.S.

Vegas is a small city with a big attitude. We are looked to be on the level of a Los Angeles, New York, and maybe even a Chicago when it comes to primary travel destinations. The difference is that we don’t have half the amount of residents that live here. And if we’re being honest, we like it like that.

What we don’t like is killing our mother Earth while creating and spreading pollution. According to Census.gov, there is an estimated 2,292,476 people who live in Clark County, Nevada as of July 1, 2021.

Where Does Las Vegas Rank As A Dirty City?

Each and every year Las Vegas is growing in residents, housing developments and commercial buildings. The community of Southern Nevada is expanding which then equates to more consumption of food, products and fossil fuels.

City life may seem glamorous but look around the streets and tell us what you see. Food waste and paper products are piling up in our streets. Not as “glamorous” as some might think.

LawnStarter.com, conducted a survey of the 152 biggest cities across the U.S. to see which were the dirtiest. The higher the average score the dirtier the city is where the lower the average score means the cleaner the city is.

They evaluated the cities using four key components: Pollution, Living Conditions, Infrastructure and Consumer Satisfaction. The results speak for themselves.

Five California cities ranked the worst for air quality with Riverside, CA ranking at the top. Anchorage, AK ranked as the city with the best air pollution.

Denver, CO ranked the highest for green house emissions from facilities. Virginia Beach, VA ranked using fewer green house emissions from facilities.

You can find more details about the survey here. Help clean up your city today to live in a cleaner environment!

5. Jersey City, NJ
Overall Score: 48.11

Pollution: 50

Living Conditions: 2

Infrastructure: 110

Consumer Satisfaction: 15
4. Detroit, MI
Overall Score: 48.3

Pollution: 9

Living Conditions: 35

Infrastructure: 89

Consumer Satisfaction: 4
3. San Bernardino, CA
Overall Score: 51.58

Pollution: 1

Living Conditions: 56

Infrastructure: 131

Consumer Satisfaction: 1
2. Newark, NJ
Overall Score: 55.25

Pollution: 14

Living Conditions: 5

Infrastructure: 97

Consumer Satisfaction: 3
1. Houston, TX
Overall Score: 56.02

Pollution: 3

Living Conditions: 4

Infrastructure: 12

Consumer Satisfaction: 34
19. Las Vegas, NV
Vegas came in at number 19. We didn’t rank in the top 10 which is great but that just means we a lot more work to do.

Overall Score: 43.98

Pollution: 15

Living Conditions: 99

Infrastructure: 2

Consumer Satisfaction: 37