Litter

The Ohio Department of Transportation is joining forces with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and Ohio Department of Natural Resources to conduct a statewide anti-litter campaign.

[Above image via the Ohio DOT]

The campaign – called “A Little Litter is a Big Problem” – aims to show state residents the negative impact litter has on the state’s transportation system, parks, beachfronts, and waterways.

“Litter is ugly and costly,” explained Governor Mike DeWine (R) in a statement. “One of the things we can all do is help clean up litter, because a little bit of litter is a big problem.”

He pointed to recent research that shows 42 percent of state residents admitted littering in the past month.

The Ohio DOT noted that it alone has spent at least $48.6 million to deal with litter since 2011. Last year, its staff spent 151,410 hours picking up trash, the agency said.

“Every year [our] crews have to divert their attention from important maintenance work to pick up other people’s trash,” emphasized Ohio DOT’s director Jack Marchbanks – noting that the agency spent at least $48.6 million to deal with litter since 2011 and that its staff spent 151,410 hours picking up trash in 2020 alone.

“If we can work together to reduce the amount of litter that collects on our roadways, our crews can spend less time picking up trash and more time on critical maintenance work like pothole and guardrail repairs,” he said.

State departments of transportation across the country are conducting similar anti-litter campaigns.

For example, Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee (D) recently helped the Rhode Island Department of Transportation officially launch a new “Clean Rhodes” anti-litter initiative on April 22.

“Litter is one of the biggest sources of complaints for RIDOT and has us spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in a seemingly never-ending battle of picking up trash along our roads,” Peter Alviti, Jr., the agency’s director, said in a statement. “We’re upping our game and enlisting the help of the business and volunteer community to help us address this blight on our roads.”

RIDOT, which said it spends $800,000 annually to pick up trash on state roads, noted that the goal of this campaign is to remove 1 million pieces of litter. The agency is also seeking to buy specialized litter removal equipment that attaches to its maintenance vehicles for some $750,000 so it can rake and clean litter from strips of land and other larger green spaces along roads more easily.

Meanwhile, the Delaware Department of Transportation, for example, recently renewed focus on its “Keep DE Litter Free” campaign. To date in 2021, the agency said its crewed collected and cleared nearly 16,000 bags of trash from state roadways – adding to the more than 51,000 bags of trash collected and cleared in 2020. That includes more than 6,800 tires, 3,500 signs, and 250 appliances removed from Delaware roads, the Delaware DOT pointed out.

“Even with reduced traffic on our roads for a significant amount of time in the past year, our litter problem has persisted,” noted Nicole Majeski, Delaware DOT secretary, in a statement. “We are committed to reducing the amount of litter along our roads and I am grateful to our employees, partners, and volunteers who continue to work hard collecting litter across the state.”

Finally, the North Carolina Department of Transportation recently noted that its litter removal efforts – including the ongoing Litter Sweep annual trash removal effort – resulted in the collection and clearing of more than 4 million pounds of roadside litter so far in 2021. 

NCDOT said in a statement that its ongoing litter management programs are “multifaceted,” making use of “state-owned forces and contract services.”

That includes its “Sponsor-A-Highway Program” that​ allows businesses, organizations and individuals to sponsor litter removal along roadsides as well as its Adopt-A-Highway Program, where volunteers pledge to clean a section of our highways at least four times a year.

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development recently implemented a new policy for its field crews to pick up trash in the footprint where they work for the day. Called the ‘Take 10’ campaign, it commits agency work crews to take 10 minutes per day at their job sites to pick up highway litter.

[Photo by the Louisiana DOTD.]

“I try to never ask anyone to do anything that I’m not willing to do myself,” said Shawn Wilson, Ph. D., Louisiana DOTD’s secretary, in a statement. “I know I’m asking my employees to stop doing necessary maintenance work for 10-15 minutes a day to remove trash that should’ve never been put there in the first place. But my long-term vision is to get to a point where this policy is no longer necessary and that we’re no longer spending millions to help correct a 100 percent preventable problem.”

The agency noted it spends approximately $9 million per year on trash-removal efforts, which includes mowing/litter contracts, sweeping contracts, municipal agreements, sheriff’s office agreements, and in-house removal costs.

Louisiana DOTD added that roadway litter also often washes into lakes, bayous, and other state waterways – which is not only unattractive but also potentially deadly for wildlife. Such trash can also clog drainage systems and lead to flooding of streets and homes, the agency said.

The Louisiana DOTD is also issuing a challenge to local municipalities to implement the same ‘Take 10’ policy for their field crews.

“For the local entities that may already be doing this – I say, ‘thank you.’ And I challenge the others to join us in the fight against litter to help keep Louisiana beautiful,” Wilson noted.

“The goal is to improve the communities where we work, play, and live, but governmental agencies can’t do it alone,” he emphasized. “We also need commitments from the general public to not litter in the first place, as well as to pick up trash when you see it and when it’s safe to do so.”
State departments of transportation are regularly engaged in a variety of trash-removal efforts and litter education campaigns.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation is gearing up for its annual Spring Litter Sweep​ to remove trash from along the state’s roadways, which will run from April 10-24 this year. To date, the agency said its crews, contractors, and volunteers have already collected some 1.8 million pounds of litter from roadsides statewide since January 1.

The South Carolina Department of Transportation noted that 1,700 of its employees picked up 13,130 bags of roadside trash weighing 209,725 pounds on November 17, 2020, in support of Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette’s “Grab A Bag SC 2020” statewide cleanup program.

In October 2020, the Georgia Department of Transportation launched a new anti-litter campaign – called “Keep It Clean Georgia” – focused on preventing and eliminating litter along 50,000 miles of interstates and statewide routes.

The Virginia Department of Transportation launched a public outreach campaign entitled Virginia is for Lovers, Not Litter in September 2020; noting that it spends nearly $3.5 million annually to remove litter from Virginia’s roadways, with more than half of that litter coming from motorists with another 25 percent from pedestrians.

The cost of litter removal from state roadways does not come cheap. In February 2020, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation released the results of a Pennsylvania Litter Research Study – conducted from 2018 through 2019 in partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Keep America Beautiful, and Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful.

That study found that Pennsylvania’s cities collectively spend more than $68 million annually on cleanup, education, enforcement, and prevention efforts related to litter and illegal dumping, the study found, with PennDOT spending upwards of $13 million per year on staff and resources to pick up litter along state-owned roadways.

The Ohio Department of Transportation is launching a public outreach campaign to reduce litter along state roadways – emphasizing that agency crews assigned to pick up trash are being diverted from more important tasks, such as patching potholes, replacing culverts, and other work.

[Photo courtesy of the Ohio Department of Transportation.]

The Ohio DOT said its crews collect more than 400,000 bags of other people’s trash from along state roadsides each year – and effort costing roughly $4 million annually. 

“Sadly, that time and money goes to address an issue that’s 100 percent preventable,” the agency said in a statement. 

“The same men and women who pick up trash along our roadways also perform other vital work like plowing snow, patching potholes, repairing guardrail, mowing grass, and replacing culverts,” the agency emphasized. “Picking up other people’s trash takes them away from those important jobs.” 

Other state departments of transportation are engaging in similar outreach efforts to reduce roadway litter. 

The Missouri Department of Transportation launches its annual highway litter cleanup effort – dubbed the ‘No MOre Trash! Bash’ – on April 1. The agency added in a statement that it spent $6.4 million to remove litter from more than 385,000 acres of roadsides along 34,000 state highway miles in 2020. The Missouri DOT also noted its annual volunteer efforts to pick up litter along state highways – including the Adopt-A-Highway program – are valued at more than $1 million. 

The North Carolina Department of Transportation is gearing up for its annual Spring Litter Sweep​ to remove trash from along the state’s roadways, which will run from April 10-24 this year. 

To date, the agency said its crews, contractors, and volunteers have already collected some 1.8 million pounds of litter from roadsides statewide since January 1. 

“We are only just beginning this year’s efforts to clean up and prevent litter on our roadsides,” noted Eric Boyette, NCDOT’s secretary, in a statement. “But we need everyone’s help. We all are responsible for keeping North Carolina clean and beautiful.” 

The South Carolina Department of Transportation noted that 1,700 of its employees picked up 13,130 bags of roadside trash weighing 209,725 pounds on November 17, 2020, in support of Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette’s “Grab A Bag SC 2020” statewide cleanup program. 

In October 2020, the Georgia Department of Transportation launched a new anti-litter campaign – called “Keep It Clean Georgia” – focused on preventing and eliminating litter along 50,000 miles of interstates and statewide routes. 

The Virginia Department of Transportation launched a public outreach campaign entitled Virginia is for Lovers, Not Litter in September 2020; noting that it spends nearly $3.5 million annually to remove litter from Virginia’s roadways, with more than half of that litter coming from motorists with another 25 percent from pedestrians. 

The cost of litter removal from state roadways does not come cheap. In February 2020, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation released the results of a Pennsylvania Litter Research Study that indicated trash cleanup efforts removed more than 502 million pieces of litter from Pennsylvania’s roads.  

That study found that the most common trash collected by roadside cleanup efforts are cigarette butts (37 percent) and plastics (30 percent), while plastic film and beverage containers are the most prevalent items – with an estimated 29.3 million beverage containers alone littering the state’s roadways. 

Pennsylvania’s cities collectively spend more than $68 million annually on cleanup, education, enforcement, and prevention efforts related to litter and illegal dumping, the study found, with PennDOT spending upwards of $13 million per year on staff and resources to pick up litter along state-owned roadways.

The South Carolina Department of Transportation noted that 1,700 of its employees picked up 13,130 bags of roadside trash weighing 209,725 pounds on November 17 in support of Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette’s “Grab A Bag SC 2020” statewide cleanup program.

[Photo courtesy of the South Carolina Department of Transportation.]

“We ask the public to help us keep the newly cleaned highways litter-free,” noted Christy Hall, SCDOT’s secretary in a statement. “Not only is litter an eyesore, but it can clog drains, pollute waterways, and hurt our state’s economy by discouraging economic development.”

The agency added that SCDOT employees are planning to participate in another statewide litter cleanup day in spring 2021.

SCDOT’s litter cleanup effort mirrors similar efforts conducted nationwide in 2020 by state departments of transportation.

For example, the Georgia Department of Transportation launched an anti-litter campaign in October called “Keep It Clean Georgia” that seeks to prevent and eliminate litter along 50,000 miles of interstates and state routes that crisscross Georgia.

That followed the Virginia Department of Transportation’s recent Virginia is for Lovers, Not Litter public outreach campaign, kicked off in September, that aims to raise awareness about Virginia’s roadway litter problem. The agency noted it spends nearly $3.5 million annually to remove litter from Virginia’s roadways, with more than half of that litter coming from motorists with another 25 percent from pedestrians.

Then there is the Alabama Department of Transportation, which launched an anti-litter campaign entitled “Trash Costs Cash” in August. The campaign uses television, radio stations, and social media sites such as Facebook and YouTube to highlight a major increase in litter fines and penalties authorized by the state legislature in 2019. The agency – which spent almost $7 million in 2019 to clean up litter along state roadways – noted that fines for littering have doubled statewide. The minimum fine is now $500, up from $250 for a first conviction, while the second conviction is $1,000 and up to 100 hours of community service.