BUTLER TWP — Instead of capes and tights, Rick and Valerie Alexander roll their gloves into their sleeves, tuck their pants in their boots and arm themselves with kitchen and black garbage bags.

“People say that's a terrible looking road, somebody should go out and do something. Everybody says that, but they go to work or find something else to do,” said Rick Alexander. “It's two against the world.”

The Butler Township couple, who have been married for 36 years, have voluntarily cleaned Litman Road, a stretch of a little less than one mile, once a year for the past four years.

“If you keep turning around waiting for someone else to do something, it's not going to get done,” Rick Alexander said.

From 1982 to 1987, the couple lived in Cabot. They moved to Seattle and owned a filing systems business for 25 years.

In 2012, the couple moved to Butler as they entered retirement.

Several of their friends volunteer for CleanWays in New Castle, so the Alexanders were inspired to follow suit.

Four years ago, the couple noticed how much litter was along the side of the road.

“It was disgusting,” Valerie Alexander said. “I said we should go out and clean up the road.”

That first year, the picking up took two days at five to six hours a day. The maintenance workers at their apartment provided the couple with kitchen bags and black garbage bags. They collected 15 bags of garbage and 11 bags of recyclables.

“We were bending over and picking everything up,” Valerie Alexander said with a laugh about the year they did not have grabbers.

Sunday mornings in March are their choice time when there is less traffic, and it is not raining or snowing outside, they said.

They start at the Green Acres Apartments and work their way down one side of the road. Then, they walk back and clean the last half of the road, which is about a two-mile walk.

“You see so much of it everywhere you go. I think people have become immune to it,” she said. “You're driving along and you don't see it anymore.”

Car parts, muffler systems, empty cough syrup and mouthwash bottles, grills, diapers, needles, liquor bottles and beer cans are just some of the items they have encountered.

“It doesn't go away. There's stuff there that's been there for a long time,” Rick Alexander said.

The most unusual item they've come across is a baby walker, a toy with wheels that allow infants to move around freely by pushing off the floor with their feet.

On the couple's most recent cleanup that took five hours March 17, they found a wallet with a driver's license and bank cards. The wallet was returned to its owner, who said he lost it four years ago when he left it on the top of his car.

Litman Road is a regular route because it connects people to Route 8, and it is an alternative route to Butler County Community College, the Alexanders said.

“I just can't stand to see all that garbage,” Valerie Alexander said. “I don't understand the mindset of people that throw stuff out their windows.”

Apartments run along Litman Road instead of houses, which could be one factor for litter, they said.

If litter was thrown into a home's yard, the owner would take care of it. There is also a risk to being caught if thrown into a home's yard, the Alexanders feel.

With an apartment, a resident might not feel the same need to clean.

Growing up, Valerie Alexander was taught by her mother, who went through the Depression, not to waste, she said.

“You don't waste food, you didn't waste clothing. Now, we live in a disposal society where phones get switched out every year or two,” she said. “I was brought up to conserve. You didn't waste because that was wrong.”

At the couple's business in Seattle, they practiced recycling, they said.

“We're big on recycling. I hate throwing anything away that can be recycled,” she said.

Richard Alexander also volunteers with the trail cleanup at Preston Park.

“You don't need a committee or formal organization to do it,” he said. “Simply grab a garbage bag and pick up some stuff on the side of the road.”

“I'm very thankful residents like them spend time and effort to do that,” said Dave Zarnick, president of the Butler Township commissioners.

Butler Township prosecutes people found illegally dumping, he said.

Cameras are also located in certain areas, he said.

“We are going all out to combat the problem,” he said.

The couple said they will continue the clean up as long as they are able.

“We have a few people that slow down and say thank you and a few people that beep at us,” she said.

Dispose of trash properly, keep a litter bag in your car and consider cleaning a section of the street or road you live on, they said is their advice to people.

“Be a good steward of the planet and teach kids,” Valerie Alexander said. “Teach the younger generation it's not OK to throw stuff out the window.”

Beginning Jan. 1, Waste Management is the solid waste and recycling hauler for Butler Township.The following items will be collected for recycling: Plastic bottles, jars and jugs, food and beverage cans, paper and flattened cardboard and paperboard.Items customers must leave out of their recycling: glass bottles and containers, food waste, plastic bags and film, foam cups and containers and needles.For more information or to participate in this program and to set up a pickup, visit http://butlertwp.org/recycling/

General rule: No person shall throw or deposit, upon any highway or upon any other public or private property without the consent of the owner thereof or into or on the waters of this Commonwealth, from a vehicle, any waste paper, sweepings, ashes, household waste, glass, metal, refuse or rubbish or any dangerous or detrimental substance.SOURCE: Pennsylvania Department of Transportation