Stockton Teens Talking Trash To Help Clean-Up City's Image

STOCKTON (CBS13) — Stockton teens are talking trash and it's making a difference in their community—they are painting trash cans to clean up their city.

Chris Sims is part of First 50, a group of high-school students dedicated to reinventing Stockton.

"Intrinsic motivation is when you see something bright, and you are naturally drawn to it," he said. "Say we paint this trash can a super-bright color. When you got throw something away, you are going to see this bright trash can out of the corner of your eye, and that's going to be the first thing you go toward."

They say it all starts with getting trash off the streets.

"You want me to be totally honest with you? I see so much trash it's actually really sad," said Adrianna Manabat.

The teens came up with the plan to paint trash cans at city parks after researching ways to brush up Stockton's image.

And for these guys, the brighter the colors the better. Anything to catch people's attention.

"I guess most of the time, people are like, 'Why are you painting trash cans?' But then you get to explain it and they understand," said Janet Phillips.

And it's a stroke of genius their program director is proud of.

"It's improvement, it's inspiring," said Jay Jordan. "When you see a bright color pink trash can, instead of throwing it on the ground, you are nine times out of 10 going to throw it in a pink trash can."

So far the community likes the bright idea.

"I think it's a good look for our community, it's a good feel," said Alycia Williams.

Teens taking their efforts across the city, focused on one goal: Cleaning up Stockton, one trash can at a time.

So far they've painted trash cans at three different parks. They're going to paint 21 in all, and they'll be at Victory Park Saturday at 8 a.m., and anyone can help.