Roadside
Litter Program begins second year
By:
JESSICA SINGLETON
Youth organizations
worked 2,846 hours this past year to keep Owen County roads clean.
Solid Waste Coordinator Dan Logan said the Owen County Roadside
Litter Program was such a success that the fiscal court voted
to continue to fund the $10,000 program for another year.
During a presentation to the fiscal court, Logan said youth or
non-profit organizations will be offered $100 for every mile of
highway they clean. As the weather warms, he will assign stretches
of road to each interested group. He said safety is a primary
concern when he is selecting roads. In particular, he looks for
areas with good visibility and wide shoulders. Interested organizations
should contact Logan at 484-2427 or dwlogan@bellsouth.net.
He said each group will receive training to insure the group can
work safely on the roadsides. He encourages adults to work on
the curved sections and youth to work on the straight areas with
adult supervision. They are also taught to recognize drug-related
paraphernalia. If any paraphernalia or other hazardous material
is found, clean-up groups are instructed to contact Logan immediately.
Logan said one advantage of being the Solid Waste Coordinator
and the Road Supervisor is he is able to utilize resources from
both departments. He said the Road Department will provide bags,
gloves, orange vests and will pick-up the bags.
When the clean-up is completed the roads will be inspected. Finally,
the groups are required to draft a letter explaining their experience
with the project. Logan said the monetary award will be issued
only when all program requirements are fulfilled.
Logan reported that during the past year 16 groups covered 102.5
miles and collected 2,269 bags of trash.
“We had a lot of success with last year’s program,”
he said.
Logan said the program should not be confused with Adopt-A-Highway.
He said with Adopt-A-Highway the organizations work the same stretch
of road every year, usually the areas directly surrounding their
church, home or business. He said the goal of the Owen County
Roadside Litter Program is to reach roads across the county.
In addition to collecting litter, Logan is trying to encourage
prevention. He said fines can be issued to those who are caught
littering. Names and addresses are found in the garbage bags and
the offenders are contacted. He said he has gone to people’s
homes to look into cases.
“It is very difficult to prove in court, but they know we
are watching,” he said.
Cheryl Kaelin supervised a group of Boy Scouts during last year’s
clean-up. She said she hopes to participate again this year.
“It is a wonderful program,” she said. “We have
been doing litter clean-up for years, but now we can raise money
at the same time.”
Kaelin said the funds raised will help buy equipment for the Boy
Scouts.
“Litter is a big problem and we are not going to stop it,
but we can at least slow it down,” Logan said.
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