'It's kind of an addictive thing' | Community Spirit

Neal Chism has one mission: take on tons of trash.

The West Seattle resident ventures out onto a local river several times a week, a pontoon and a plucker in hand.

Chism is an engineer by day, water-bound garbage picker by night. He is happiest when he is talking trash.

"It's kind of an addictive thing. One thing leads to another, and you start picking up more and more area," he said.

These days, Chism covers an area several miles long. He rows out on to the Duwamish River in his spare time. to get rid of the flotsam and jetsam and floating debris.

"Plastics, plastic bags, soccer balls, baseballs, basketballs -- anything you can think of comes down the river here," he said.

The cleanup was an idea born from his leisure time along the river. He had the brainstorm, he had the boat, and better yet, the time to donate.

"The whole point is to get the stuff out of the water and away from the animals. That's the key. There is a way to do it, and that's what I've been working on," Chism said.

He's doing it all on his time and money, but hopes to get a grant and expand the project some day.

Chism says it's tough to quantify how many plastic bottles and random particles he's picked up along the banks of the Duwamish River, but he estimates he's gotten to several tons of trash over the past six months. That includes cigarette lighters with barnacles and a home safe with jewelry and passports.

The goal is to make things a little bit better once he's gone, leaving behind only his own footprints in the sand.