An apparatus for picking up an object has an elongated handle having a lower end carrying a downwardly open bell. A tubular body inside the bell has a lower edge and can move between a lower position with this edge projecting downward past a lower bell edge and an upper position. A downwardly open bag has a closed upper end releasably retained inside the tubular body and an open end lying against an outer surface of the lower body edge. An elastic annular element engages around the body and the bag immediately above the tapered lower body edge and holds the bag against the outer surface of the lower end of the tubular body. Upward displacement of the tubular body into the upper position causes the lower bell edge to downwardly engage and push the elastic annular element downward off the tubular body.