Residents in the Trout Creek area picked the community clean on Saturday morning.
The community cleanup, hosted by the Trout Creek Community Association, collected more than 20 large bags of garbage in a two-hour trek around the area.
Organizers said items most commonly picked up are cigarette butts, fast food packages, drink containers and plastics.
"It's like people get their fast food in Penticton, and by the time they get to Trout Creek they're done their hamburger or their drink and out the window it goes," Erin Trainer with the TCCA said, who is also a councillor in Summerland.
The event is held twice yearly — in the spring after the snow melts and in the fall after summer tourists have departed.
Residents typically fill 20 to 30 garbage bags, and Trainer said "now it's more like maintenance," compared to when they first began the cleanup in 2013.
"There was a lot of older stuff that had been buried underneath shrubs and stuff along the highway. At the beginning, we were pulling out a lot of car parts, mattresses and signs that had probably been there for like 10 years."
She added the cleanup is important for protecting species in the area that may mistake garbage for food.
The casual cleanup draws about 10 to 30 residents each time. Trainer's husband, Erick Thompson, said the event is a good way to build a sense of community among residents.
The District of Summerland collects the piles of garbage after the cleanup, and also supplies residents with garbage bags and safety vests in advance.