Two staffers at EGLE are spurring each other on to be among the world鈥檚 top litter collectors. The two worked together and cleaned up a five-block area around the Michigan Capitol building on their lunch hour in July. Both agree that they share a passion for the beauty of the outdoors, and that鈥檚 part of that spurs them to help pick up litter on walks, which often become litter walks. It鈥檚 restoring nature鈥檚 beauty.
Last year, EGLE featured a聽MiEnvironment story聽on how Bryan Grochowski鈥檚 drive to pick up litter put him among the top litter picker-uppers worldwide on the Litterati app. The hazardous waste inspector has been picking up litter for seven years.
Nathan Noll, an environmental quality specialist in EGLE鈥檚 Water Resources Division (WRD), first learned about the app from a WRD co-worker and subsequently learned about Grochowski after another coworker shared the EGLE article. Noll soon began outpacing Grochowski.
The two met and formed an instant friendship. 鈥淭he app has brought Nathan and I together as kindred co-workers, and it鈥檚 worth noting that he has inspired me to collect more this year,鈥� said Grochowski. 鈥淚鈥檝e already surpassed by collecting from last year 鈥� with over 10,900 pieces, and it鈥檚 only September. The app counts your daily collection and lists everyone鈥檚 ranking. It鈥檚 not unusual to see one or both of us near the top.鈥�
They keep track of each other鈥檚 litter efforts and decided to meet for a joint project this past summer. On that litter walk, they collected about 800 pieces in less than one hour. By the next morning, they had over 1,000 pieces between them.
The pair鈥檚 statistics are impressive:
- Grochowski is in the Top 100 again for 2025.
- Grochowski hit Number Three in the world for the number of days collecting litter, with at least one piece of litter collected. (345 days out of 365)
- Grochowski crossed the 50,000 mark, hitting 58,000 in September. That took him nine years.
- Noll was Number 11 in the world for 2025. He surpassed Grochowski鈥檚 collection last year, with 20,491 pieces collected in less than one year, as he didn鈥檛 start until March.
- Noll, collecting for less than two years, surpassed 40,000 recently.
- Noll also found a weak hummingbird on a litter walk downtown and delivered the little one to a nature rescue, where the bird鈥檚 condition improved.
鈥淣athan鈥檚 continued efforts are a fulfillment of something I have long hoped for 鈥� that others would be inspired to pick up litter and help keep our communities clean, to be a steward for nature,鈥� Grochowski added. 鈥淭he app encourages both of us, and we encourage others to keep the areas where they walk regularly clean.鈥�
While Grochowski isn鈥檛 proud of collecting litter, he is proud that he is not too proud to bend over and pick up litter. 鈥淚鈥檓 an ambassador asking others to be stewards and help keep our communities clean.鈥�