Reply Gus Vandermeeren, of Raleigh, has inspired an army of 25 or so volunteers to pick up trash from the sides of roads in the city. (Shutterstock) RALEIGH, NC — Gus Vandermeeren has always made a point of being useful to society in some way. So when he saw a commercial in January 2020 about the harm plastic does in the ocean, he got off his couch and started doing his part to help combat the global problem. The 62-year-old computer programmer at Meredith College in Raleigh has spent much of his free time picking up trash alongside roads in east Raleigh, according to a WRAL report. He logs his adventures in a notebook he found on the side of a road during one of his cleanups, the report states.