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Whether it's a sunny April afternoon or a cold December morning, there's a good chance Russell Robinette is picking up trash in his College Park neighborhood.

Robinette, 53, has been picking up litter — paper, bottles, cans and cups, often left by partying students from the University of Maryland, College Park — almost daily for about five years.

"There's more trash every year," Robinette said. "I don't like it."

Robinette, who is mentally disabled, has lived with his parents — Marion and Samuel Robinette — in the city's Berwyn neighborhood for 48 years. He makes some money mowing lawns and gardening for neighbors, but trash pickup is strictly a labor of love, one he often spends one to two hours doing each day.

"He does all this on his own. I never coach him on it or anything," said Samuel Robinette, 78. "He packs up in the morning with a couple bags in his pocket and takes off."

Russell Robinette's service began as the idea of City Councilman Robert Catlin (Dist. 2). Shortly after Catlin retired from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2004, he started occasionally picking up litter in Berwyn and would often see Robinette along the way.

At Catlin's suggestion, they began picking up trash together on many mornings and afternoons.

"After a couple years, he started doing the morning by himself," said Catlin, who still accompanies Robinette on some afternoon walks. "It's great to have somebody who's committed to do it on almost a daily basis ... If you don't hit an area at least once, it kind of accumulates."

Robinette sometimes picks up litter twice a day and occasionally travels into the adjacent Lakeland neighborhood or along the city's Paint Branch trail. He sometimes stays home in bad weather and usually reserves mid-day for lunch with his parents and an episode of "The Price Is Right."

Robinette spent about 20 years as a landscaper for Melwood — an Upper Marlboro nonprofit organization that provides job training, employment and other opportunities for the disabled — before leaving about 10 years ago. He has many hobbies, which include bowling, collecting Elvis Presley memorabilia and watching sports, especially the Washington Nationals.

"I always see him going around picking up trash, and we talk about sports all the time," said neighborhood postal carrier Greg Mills, who lives in Crofton. "He's a good guy."

Neighbors often greet Robinette along his route, stopping to chat or offer him a cold drink on warmer days, and his efforts have not gone unnoticed. He was honored at a March meeting of the Berwyn District Civic Association, which gave him a shirt and restaurant gift card.

"He was a young man when I moved to Berwyn, but he's still out there," said Councilman Jack Perry (Dist. 2). "And if it doesn't move or it doesn't belong there, Russell will pick it up."