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A reader contacted us recently concerned about the amount of litter
that they see along the sides of Ashe
County highways.
"I would like to know what is being done about the litter
along the roads. We are in a lot of ways a tourist desti-nation
which brings a lot of money to the county. If the roads are lined
with litter then it may turn people off from coming here,"
our reader said.
As usual when dealing with county matters a call was placed to
County Manager Dan McMillan who was asked just what the county
was doing about the litter problem. His answer was that the county
wasn't doing anything at all.
"There's nobody responsible for picking up litter; if there
was then people would be throwing it out all the time. So there
is not any responsible party. What happens is organizations and
clubs will get with the [North Carolina] Department of Transportation
and will pick certain sections [of highway] for litter clean-up,
but there is nobody responsible other than DOT," McMillan
said.
Additionally, McMillan said that inmate labor is used from time
to time on Highways 16 and 221, but that the county is not connected
with the operation and does not know who is in charge of it.
Given the information from McMillan it seems that the responsibility
for litter clean up is left to the citizens of Ashe County.
One way that litter can be controlled by residents is through
the NCDOT's Adopt-a-Highway Program.
The Adopt-a-Highway program was established in 1988 in response
to public concerns over litter seen along state highways; it is
administered by the Office of Beautification Programs. The mission
of the program is to im-prove the appearance of the state and
improve the state of the environment by getting rid of litter
along state highways.
On average since the program's inception more than 120,000 volunteers
have picked up nearly four-million pounds of litter annually.
Many different types of groups participate in the program from
civic organizations to school and church groups. The groups are
responsible for removing litter four times per year from two-mile
sections of highway. In return for the service NCDOT posts signs
at each end of the responsible area with the group's name.
Initially a group contracts to care for their particular section
of highway for four years with the option to con-tinue at the
end of that time.
The Adopt-a-Highway program is instrumental in fighting litter
across the state. Annually volunteer save NC taxpayers nearly
$4 million in roadside cleanup costs.
NC has one of the largest anti-litter programs in the country
and boasts having 6,000 participating groups main-taining 12,000
miles of adopted highway.
For more information click to www.ncdot.org and follow the links
to Adopt-a-Highway.
To start an Adopt-a-Highway group call area coordinator Steve
Gentry at (336) 903-9146 or 903-9219.
- Ron Fitzwater |
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