In the eighth decade of his life, Ken Duerig keeps active with two obsessions. One is bicycling. The other is picking up trash.
He’s found ways to combine them — picking up trash as he pedals.
“I plan my daily rides based on where I think I may find good trash prospecting,” said Duerig, 71, of Ross. “I am so obsessed that if I don’t find as much as I expected, I feel disappointed.”
When he’s not fighting litter on his own, Duerig volunteers with Allegheny CleanWays. He has been helping the organization clean up illegal dump sites since 2021.
“Every time I get to a cleanup and see a bicyclist coming up, I know it must be Ken,” said Matt Nemeth, communications coordinator for Allegheny CleanWays. “He’s biked to every cleanup I’ve seen him at, which is pretty inspiring, given the hilly terrain of communities we often work in.”
Nominated by Allegheny CleanWays, Duerig was one of five recognized as volunteers of the year for 2025 by Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful.
“Across Pennsylvania, our affiliates, volunteers and community partners continue to inspire us,” said Shannon Reiter, president of Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful. “Their dedication, collaboration and passion for improving the places we call home have strengthened local revitalization efforts and advanced our mission in meaningful ways throughout 2025. Each one truly deserves to be celebrated.”
Duerig comes to cleanups several times a week, bringing tremendous energy to the crew, said Erica Pasquali, land program coordinator for Allegheny CleanWays.
“Not only does Ken volunteer on land cleanups, but he also stewards several storm drains as part of our GrateKeepers program and maintains several miles of roadway in the North Side area,” she said. “As if Ken isn’t dedicated enough, he bikes and/or uses public transit to get to all the cleanups. Ken has been known to bike from Ross Township to McKeesport just to volunteer on a cleanup.
“He is our environmental hero!”
Duerig doesn’t feel the need to be recognized for what he does, but accepts the honor.
“I get a lot of ‘thank you’ and ‘You’re doing a good thing’ from passersby, but I don’t really know how to respond, and recognition has nothing to do with what motivates me,” he said. “Perhaps my story can inspire others to follow in my footsteps and we can clean this country up.”
A daily habit
Born in Haddonfield, N.J., in 1954, Duerig was a middle child in a family of five boys. His father, a child of immigrants from Switzerland, worked for Bell Telephone in Philadelphia until 1964, when a promotion took him to Harrisburg. His family came to Pittsburgh in 1968, when the father became head engineer in the Pennsylvania Bell system.
Duerig graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in geology. While there, he worked concessions in Yellowstone Park, where he met his wife, Carol. They’ve been married for 46 years.
He worked in geophysics, specifically in seismic oil exploration, which took him from the swamps of Louisiana to the remote wilderness of Alaska.
Duerig changed careers in 1986 and became a casino dealer, working in Carson City, Nev., and later at a casino on a reservation in the state of Washington.
A third obsession for Duerig is skiing, which he has enjoyed since he was 14. He worked at a ski resort in Park City, Utah, in winters from 2000 to 2018, but still goes back to ski there four to six weeks each year, staying at a condo he inherited from his father in 2017.
“The skiing is somewhat of a vacation from picking up trash, but not really because when time allows between going skiing, I pick trash up here in Utah or wherever I am because I can’t help myself and I enjoy doing it,” he said. “If I can do it, I don’t feel right about not doing it.”
Duerig, obviously, likes to stay active in his retirement.
“I stay fit by staying active. I stay active by staying fit,” he said.
Saying he’s always been a cyclist, Duerig has done numerous cross-country bike expeditions in North America and overseas.
“I am so obsessed with it that I don’t drive cars and rarely ride in them. I just stay out of their way,” he said, adding he does ride buses. “I have always picked up trash occasionally until about eight years ago when I started to get serious about it, and the occasional became a daily obsession.”
Mutually inspired
Duerig has been all over Allegheny County and into neighboring counties. If the destination isn’t good for cycling, or the weather is suspect, he takes a bus.
“When I ride to these CleanWays events, I see a lot of trash on the way, and I get what I can coming and going from the events. Sometimes I have had enough trash for the day and don’t get it and remember to come back for it another day,” he said. “There are many streets I have patrolled, too numerous to mention. There is always more to find.”
While Allegheny CleanWays recognized him, Duerig said he is impressed by what the organization does.
“They have inspired me to work at higher levels,” he said. “It is tough and dirty work cleaning illegal dump sites but rewarding to see the difference before and after.”
When he gets back to Pittsburgh this spring, Duerig expects many of the places he had cleaned up to be in need again.
He says that’s OK.
“I enjoy doing it,” he said. “It gives me great satisfaction and even pride to look back on a site that I, or working with a CleanWays crew, have cleaned — and that feeling makes the effort worthwhile to me.
“When I stand before God, I want to be able to say, ‘I tried.’ ”