(gentle music) - Fish for Garbage leads large-scale waterway cleanups that have removed more than 150,000 pounds of trash from rivers, reservoirs all over the region.

Their events aimed to strengthen Utah's ecosystems and build a cleaner future by using community-driven stewardship.

Aaron Smith is joining us now in the studio to share why you should consider Fishing for Garbage.

Welcome, Aaron.

- Hey, thank you.

- And one of the first things I asked you was like, "How do you stay motivated to fish for garbage when sometimes you're returning to the same places and they're packed with garbage once again?"

- Sure, yeah, it's pretty crazy, the amount of trash we see come out of the waterways each year.

Some of our cleanups will overfill three or four of the biggest dumpsters you can possibly rent, and you think that that would go down every year, and it doesn't.

It's more every year, and so without these events, it's almost kind of scary that to think of how much trash could accumulate out there, so you gotta kind of stay on top of it.

- Yeah, and I think a part of the motivation is the thought of doing good and making things look better and having a healthier ecosystem for a while, but also you guys make these events fun.

- Yeah, we like to make it fun, make it worth your while for giving us a few hours of your weekend.

It's not easy for everybody to do and a lot of people sacrifice a lot to come out and help us put together these cleanups and volunteer and come out and help us clean up and make a positive impact.

- What are some of the things that people can expect to do and see besides fishing for garbage at the upcoming event?

- Well, how it works is most people will show up around 9:00 AM and we'll give you trash bag, grabbers, gloves, and send you off for a few hours to go help us clean up, and come back, bring your trash back to the dumpsters we have on site, and we will feed you lunch, we'll give away a whole bunch of awesome prizes, and even have a little Kids club program as a way to help inspire the youth to keep it up.

- You guys call that the Kids Fish for Garbage Raccoon Crew.

Yeah, Raccoon Crew, that's right.

- Well, thank you so much for being here.

If you would love to join the Fish for Garbage cleanup effort, it's the eighth annual Weber River Garbage Cleanup, May 16th, 9:00 AM 'til 12:00 PM, that's noon, at Upland Fly Shop in the parking lot.

Just go to fishforgarbage.org for more information.

I'm Liz Adeola and thank you for watching "Contact."

(upbeat music) Philanthropy, Arts, culture.

It's what brings us together.

Hi, I'm Liz Adeola, the host of Contact, a show that connects you with local events and organizations that serve your community.

If you work for a nonprofit and would like to be on Contact, please visit pbs.org/contact