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DEL.ICIO.USLet’s get the trash out of our county
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Let’s talk some trash.
Trash as in litter, garbage, waste.
You got eyes. You see it.
Campaign signs. Debris that’s fallen off transfer trucks. Bags of garbage that’s dumped on dead-end streets. Fast-food bags and wrappers that are tossed out car windows.
We got plenty of it.
But it may not be as egregious as you think.
Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful just conducted a litter survey. The Keep America Beautiful organization has designed a scientific way to assess and rate the amount of litter in a community. It’s called a “litter index,” and it goes from 1 to 4.
An index of 1 means there’s no litter; 2 acknowledges the presence of some litter; 3 means a community is slightly littered; and 4 means it’s awash in trash.
On July 10, four trained scorers from Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful took to the highways, parks, parking lots, the backside of strip malls and sundry other places. They took copious notes.
Guess what?
When it comes to trash statistics, the county isn’t in that bad of shape.
It has an overall litter index of 1.6.
The most litter-strewn roads are Ronald Reagan Parkway, Arc Way, Peachtree Industrial Boulevard and Williams and Rockbridge roads. What a surprise. No Buford Highway, Lawrenceville Highway or even Jimmy Carter Boulevard, which seems to always have an animal carcass or something on it.
Connie Wiggins, the Clean & Beautiful director, thought the county fared well overall. She’s not satisfied, though.
She estimates that curbing litter taxes local coffers to the tune of $250,000. That’s too much money to throw in the trash. It could be put to better use.
“We’d like to get the litter index down to a 1,” she said.
And it can be done.
But don’t expect government or some nonprofit to carry the load. Or pick up the trash. That’s where you can help. Step up. Pick up. Dial up, too.
“We need more people to report it, to let us know where they are seeing garbage, and if they see people doing it,” Wiggins told me. “When they see people doing it, they need to take down the tag number and deal with it through the police department.”
There’s something else you can do, too. It’s real simple.
Don’t litter. Don’t flick that cigarette butt into the grass. Whatever you tend to toss to the ground, find a waste basket instead.
And if you truly want to get involved, join Paul Allen and his compatriots in communities across the county. Pick up garbage. Paint over graffiti. And when an election’s been held, remove those candidate signs that campaigns leave posted.
It’s what Allen’s been doing since last week’s state primary. Within a 4-mile radius of his Norcross-area home, he estimates he and others have removed about 300 signs. When it comes to curbing litter, graffiti and such, Allen believes the people have the power.
“We rely way too much upon government to do things for us, but it simply does not have enough resources,” he told me via e-mail. “I would estimate that, in my area, at least 90 percent of the trash-type problems are resolved by us, with no assistance required.”
A piece of litter is a piece of litter. We should want all of it gone.
To report litter trouble spots, contact Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful at 770-822-5187.
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Comments
By sue
July 27, 2006 08:31 AM | Link to this
Litter drives me CRAZY. Luckily most eaters don’t throw food wrappers on the ground, but what’s with the smokers? Why do they think that the world is their ashtray? Look at the curbs at any streetlight or stop sign, they are strewn with cigarette butts. Every car I’ve ever owned has an ash tray that comes standard. I’m sure I’m not the only one. AND if you do use your car’s ashtray, don’t dump it in the parking lot at QuickTrip or Racetrack. You are only two feet from a trashcan.
By nikki
July 27, 2006 09:12 AM | Link to this
If you think on main roads is bad, you ought to see the back roads and dirt roads. Fine upstanding citizens will dump on someone else’s property. When you ask them why they do it, they say it’s not hurting anyone and get beligerent. The police aren’t interested much either. We have picked it up, found an address and dumped it on the people’s yard.
By Dave
July 28, 2006 09:46 AM | Link to this
It should be no secrect that most street liter comes from the careless garbage handlers. I challenge Gwinnett Beautiful to ride through a Gwinnett neighborhood soon after one of the many refuse handlers do thier weekly deed and note the trash that they spill. It is horrendous. Of course it is impossible to let the simple minded person off the hook that puts a full container of recycleable newspaper on the curb with out a weight to keep it in place. I rest my case.
By CLM
July 28, 2006 01:05 PM | Link to this
Take a good look around some of the neighborhoods. Cars are parked on the lawns or they are up on blocks. Trash is in their yards because the owners or renters are too lazy to pick up the old newspapers and their trash Yes, it is their trash. It is time Gwinnett starts enforcing the county ordinances. Don’t tell me it is because some people don’t have money. It has nothing to do with their earnings. It is taking pride in your appearance and the appearance of where you live. It take effort to clean up your yards and some people just don’t want to be bothered.
By Woody Bass
July 28, 2006 03:09 PM | Link to this
Williams and Rockbridge roads
I havent seen near as much there as I have seen on JCB between Lawrenceville Hwy and Rockbridge Road. Im constantly dodging trash and roadkill along that stretch. Ptree Ind. and Buford Hwy suprised me as well…
By Woody Bass
July 28, 2006 03:11 PM | Link to this
CLM: It has nothing to do with their earnings. It is taking pride in your appearance and the appearance of where you live.
AAAAMEN bruthuh/sistuh.
By Jodi
July 28, 2006 07:40 PM | Link to this
I’ve had it with litterbugs!! Is it so hard to just throw it in a can? What’s worse, the other day while driving through Oakwood, a Lincoln Navigator stopped in the middle of the road, only for a brief second, then proceeded to toss an entire garbage bag right off the road!! Can you believe that!