ORONO, Minn. (FOX 9) - Going for regular walks can be good for your health, but they can also be an exercise in civic engagement.

‘I like clean living environments’

What we know:

Once a week, Marcel Smits goes for a walk near his house in Orono to stretch his legs.

But with each step, he is also making great strides to clean up his neighborhood.

"The only way to get it really clean is civic engagement. That's just what the numbers show," said Smits.

‘We can turn this into a movement’

The backstory:

Smits started picking up litter on his walks more than 10 years ago, while living in a suburb of Chicago.

Since then, he's been a man on a mission, trekking 300 miles and picking up 40,000 pieces of trash around the country and across the globe in places like Korea, his native Netherl

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