Mint 400 Volunteers Haul 20 Tons of Trash from Southern Nevada Desert

Hundreds of volunteers descended on the Jean dry lake off-road area south of Las Vegas on Feb. 28 for the 10th annual Republic Services Mint 400 Desert Cleanup presented by Sylvania Off-Road, hauling away roughly 20 tons of trash from the Bureau of Land Management desert that serves as home to the Mint 400 and other off-road events throughout the year.

Two compacting garbage trucks and six roll-off dumpsters from Republic Services collected the refuse that volunteers raked, shoveled, bagged, and dragged out of the sand. Common finds included shell casings, mattresses, 55-gallon steel drums, computer monitors, propane tanks, tires, fire extinguishers, and the splintered frames of shade tents whose canvas canopies had long since deteriorated.

The 2026 haul fell short of the cleanup's all-time records — 46.6 tons in 2023 and 41.4 tons in 2024 — years organizers say were inflated by torched vehicles, likely burned in insurance fraud schemes. Despite the lower total, the event pushed the program's cumulative removal well past the half-million-pound milestone it crossed in 2025. Since the cleanup's launch in 2017, volunteers have removed more than 320 tons of trash from the desert, including tires, appliances, and metal drums.

UNLTD Off-Road Racing Series CEO Matt Martelli said those record-setting years underscored a persistent challenge: illegal dumping that leaves the course and surrounding desert littered with debris hazardous to both racers and the environment. This year's total, nearly double the tonnage removed in the program's early years, reflects continued growth in volunteer participation and organizational capacity.

Organizers say the cleanup will continue to expand in the years ahead, with UNLTD having already launched similar events tied to its Parker 400 and California 300 races.