Roadside Litter
Have you heard the term “86it”? It means, “to get rid of something; to throw it out.” We like it because it’s a pretty cool way of asking someone to throw something away. To further the sentiment, we want all 86ers to show trash cans some respect, because they have feelings, too. And if the can ain’t respected, the ground is disrespected. Let’s Respect the Can. Check out 86it.com to get involved and learn more about 86ing litter in Wake County.
There are more than 5,100 miles of roadway in Wake County. The 440 Adopt-A-Highway (AAH) groups in Wake County are responsible for picking up litter on 811 miles of roadway at least four times a year.
View a map of roadways cleaned by the Adopt-A-Highway groups in Wake County.
The North Carolina Department of Corrections (DOC) inmate crews are assigned to clean up 183 miles in Wake County. The DOC dedicates three road squads and four work crews are dedicated to litter cleanup in Wake County. Road squads consist of two officers and eight inmates, and work crews consist of one officer and eight inmates. View a map of roadways cleaned by the Department of Corrections in Wake County.
This leaves nearly 4,200 miles of the 5,100 miles of roadways in Wake County to be addressed by municipalities, volunteer groups or other litter cleanup programs. View a map of roadways cleaned by municipalities, AAH groups and DOC crews in Wake County.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation District Office maintenance staff crews perform “on-call” cleanups in areas with heavy littering based on calls from towns and cities. Maintenance crews also pick up bags collected by DOC inmate crews, AAH groups, and Litter Sweep volunteers.
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To capture the rate at which litter accumulates on the roadways, Wake County staff conducted a 14-day time-lapse photo study. The study was conducted along Rock Quarry Road in Raleigh in January and again in June to test seasonal differences in the amount of litter accumulating on the road. On the first day Wake County cleaned up all the litter in the selected area so that there was no litter along the roadway.
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Wake County staff is working with the Division of Community Corrections to conduct weekend roadside litter cleanups with citizens sentenced to community service by the criminal justice system. Since last November 28 weekend cleanups have collected more than 300 bags of litter along 56 miles of roadway in Wake County.
Wake County has contract with CLM Services, Inc., to pick up roadside litter around Solid Waste facilities. As part of that contract, CLM Services will extend the contracted hourly rate for litter cleanup to Adopt-A-Highway and other groups that are interested in hiring an outside company to pick up litter. Please call CLM Services at 910-464-5385 to request a price quote.
Wake County Solid Waste operating contracts at South Wake Landfill and East Wake Transfer Station include provisions for collecting litter generated by incoming and outgoing trucks.
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Litter Enforcement Statistics
The following data is from the 2006, 2007 and 2008 North Carolina Interagency Report on Litter Cleanup, Education/Prevention and Enforcement. The number of charges and convictions represents totals from district and superior court.
|
Statewide Results |
|
Year |
Citations |
Convictions |
Conviction Rate |
ABC |
ALE |
DMV |
Police |
Sheriff |
SHP |
WRC |
Other |
|
2008 |
3901 |
1939 |
49.7% |
1 |
37 |
2 |
1670 |
415 |
1021 |
548 |
122 |
|
2007 |
4177 |
2043 |
48.9% |
7 |
48 |
1 |
1766 |
442 |
940 |
709 |
264 |
|
2006 |
4035 |
1948 |
48.3% |
13 |
24 |
0 |
1716 |
461 |
885 |
656 |
280 |
|
Average |
4038 |
1977 |
49.0% |
7 |
36 |
1 |
1717 |
439 |
949 |
638 |
222 |
|
Wake County Results |
|
Year |
Citations |
Convictions |
Conviction Rate |
ABC |
ALE |
DMV |
Police |
Sheriff |
SHP |
WRC |
Other |
| 2008 |
504 |
255 |
50.6% |
0 |
4 |
0 |
315 |
45 |
115 |
1 |
24 |
| 2007 |
660 |
353 |
53.5% |
1 |
1 |
1 |
411 |
37 |
137 |
11 |
61 |
| 2006 |
672 |
324 |
48.2% |
0 |
1 |
0 |
467 |
37 |
127 |
0 |
40 |
| Average |
612 |
311 |
50.8% |
0 |
2 |
0 |
398 |
40 |
126 |
4 |
42 | |
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