PHOENIX – Thirty-one volunteers dedicated Tuesday morning to an Arizona Department of Transportation Adopt a Highway Earth Day event in Tempe, collecting litter along a section of Loop 202.

Working along the Red Mountain Freeway right of way in the Salt River bed, the volunteers filled 41 bags with trash and removed other items, including shopping carts, three electric rental scooters, yards of metal pipe and more, according to an ADOT release.

This event, which also took place to mark National Volunteer Week, “was a chance to showcase the value ADOT Adopt a Highway volunteers bring to state highways throughout the year,” the release stated.

In 2024, volunteers removed 10,400 bags of litter while contributing 17,891 hours of labor worth $538,000, state transportation officials said.

For more: azdot.gov/adoptahighway.