MUSKEGON COUNTY, Mich. — Among the waves and breathtaking views on the five Great Lakes, there's a growing concern that Dockside Donuts in Muskegon hopes to help fight: trash along bike trails and beaches. To combat the issue, they're offering offering a free donut and a cup of coffee. Trash left behind by beachgoers and bike riders have an impact on the safety, sustainability and beauty along the lakeshore.
"We had some people come in asking for donations for beach and bike trail cleanup so we thought it was a great idea for our buckets,” owner Carolee Castle said. "We cleaned up the buckets and put some stickers on them and put them out, then offered them to people to fill them up with garbage from the bike trail or the beach, bring it back in, and get a free cup of coffee and a donut."
Castle said you can pick up a bucket or fill one of your own to get a free cup of coffee and donut for yourself. The "bucket brigade" litter cleanup program started to encourage others to join the efforts of picking up trash.
"We get a lot of business from people on their way to the beach and keeping the bike trail looking beautiful and the beach clean for everyone to use is really an important part of keeping lakeside a viable community,” Castle said.
A recent study from the Alliance for the Great Lakes, a nonprofit formed to conserve and restore freshwater resources of the Great Lakes, shows litter data collected over a 20-year period that nearly 10 million pieces of litter were collected and more than half a million pounds of litter were collected despite beach cleanup efforts from some 200,000 volunteers.
As long as West Michiganders continue to return litter-filled buckets to her donut shop, Castle will keep rewarding the good Samaritans with free donuts and coffee, and hopes her program will have a positive influence on the community, local bike paths and beaches.
“We keep empty buckets here ready to go, and we've had quite a few people take them,” Castle said. "We’ve had a few brought back already and it's just an exciting thing to see how it takes off."
The donut shop is located in Muskegon at 1950 Lakeshore Drive. For more information about their program, you can visit their website.
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