Roadside Litter
Litter Sweep
Next event: April 18, 2010–May 2, 2010
Litter Sweep is a statewide roadside litter cleanup drive sponsored by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT). It is a biannual event usually scheduled for the last two weeks of April and September. The NCDOT Office of Beautification Programs administers the spring and fall Litter Sweeps.
Neuse River Cleanup
Next event: Saturday, April 3, 2010
The Neuse River Foundation helps to maintain the entire Neuse River Basin, which comprises a large area within Wake County. For the past several years, the Foundation has conducted a river cleanup event in April and more recently in October. This event has been instrumental in removing a significant amount of debris from the river. These efforts are primarily focused on the waterways comprising the Neuse River Basin.
North Carolina Big Sweep
Next Event: Saturday, October 2, 2010
NC Big Sweep is a grassroots nonprofit organization whose mission is a litter-free environment. They conduct year-round education to prevent litter and coordinate the annual North Carolina Big Sweep event in which volunteers from all 100 counties in the state and approximately 90 countries worldwide come together to clean up North Carolina land and waterways.
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Tips for organizing and conducting a litter cleanup:
- When choosing a roadway to cleanup be sure to consider safety first, including speed limit, visibility, size of the roadway shoulder.
- Cleanup groups should work facing oncoming traffic, keep off the roadway and stay at least five feet from the edge of the road surface.
- Cleanup groups should work only along one side of the road at a time.
- Litter pickup sessions should be scheduled for daylight hours and discontinued during inclement weather.
- Check to make sure that the section roadway is not an adopted highway.
- If you are cleaning a roadway inside of the city limits, be sure to contact the town and/or city to get permission to clean up the area.
- Proper clothing and equipment: During cleanups, all volunteers should were bright colored safety vests. Volunteers also should wear heavy work gloves, substantial shoes or boots and brightly colored clothing that covers the arms and legs.
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Wake County has litter kits available to be checked by groups interested in conducting a litter cleanup. Each kit contains 24 Pairs of Gloves, 24 Orange Safety Vests, 10 Litter Grabbers, 20 Garbage Bags. Request a litter kit for your next cleanup event.
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The Adopt-A-Highway Program (AAH) is administered by the NCDOT Office of Beautification Programs, and is a joint effort between community volunteers and the NCDOT. Its purpose is to decrease the amount of litter on North Carolina's roadways and improve the beauty and quality of the environment.
There are 59 Adopt-A-Highway coordinators statewide who oversee the program in their local areas. The coordinator for Wake County works with groups to adopt available sections of state-maintained highway. Each adopted section of highway is approximately two miles long. Volunteer groups sign contracts with NCDOT agreeing to remove litter from their adopted stretch a minimum of four times each year (once every three months). NCDOT posts signs at each end of the adopted section with a group’s name to show its participation in the program. NCDOT also provides safety training, safety vests and trash bags. In addition, NCDOT removes the trash-filled orange bags from roadsides following a pickup. Initially the adopted highway is contracted for four years. A group may keep its adopted section of highway indefinitely if the contract is renewed at the end of each four-year period and the required number of pickups is done. Return to top
With increasing public interest and involvement in environmental education and stewardship, people everywhere are starting to understand that keeping our natural world clean is everyone's responsibility. FEED THE BIN School Recycling Program has several ways that school groups can participate in to help keep Wake County litter-free.
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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.
January Time Lapse Photo Study (Coming Soon)
June Time Lapse Photo Study (Coming Soon)
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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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