FULLERTON, Calif. – The saying goes, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” 72-year-old Walter Clark picks up trash, but it’s not the trash that he considers the treasure.

“Watch me beautify this area right now. Ahh, beautiful,” says Clark, a retired engineer.

There are about 28 miles worth of trails in Fullerton. Clark has walked all of them many times even though he has arthritis and back pain.

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“I don’t know if it’s the exercise or luck, but my legs don’t give me any trouble. I can be out for two hours and it’s usually hunger or some other obscure reason that I need to quit,” says Clark.

Six months into his walks, Clark just couldn’t ignore the litter left on the paths anymore. He called the City of Fullerton to report the trash.

“As everyone knows, Fullerton is having trouble with budgets. So I do my part and they appreciate the fact that most of the time, I’m walking and a few efforts go to picking up the trash. They cannot afford to pay somebody to do that,” says Clark.

So the long-time Fullerton resident took matters into his own hands and brings his own bags and trash picker on his walks.

“In fact, philosophically, it’s like I just created this beautiful scene by taking away the distraction. So here, I’m distracted by this piece of trash here, I pick it up. Then I step back and wow, I just created this beautiful scene,” says Clark.

Rain or shine, Clark walks about two hours every day. He hopes to inspire more seniors to walk, and pick up trash as they go to help beautify one of earth’s greatest treasures for future generations to enjoy.

Clark created a website called Fullerton Walk which lists the different trails in the city and what people can expect on each trail. Visit his website for more information.