Recycling & Waste Disposal  
  Businesses
  Holiday Schedule  
  Licensed Solid Waste Haulers  
  Residents
  Roadside Litter  
  Schools
  Solid Waste Division
  South Wake Landfill Information
  Trash Takers
print  |  email

Roadside Litter


Litter on Capital Blvd. Don't Leave Trash in your Wake is Wake County's new anti-litter slogan. The County is working to address the root causes and sources of litter by targeting those who litter, changing public attitudes, and instilling a sense of community pride and awareness.

Cleanup Activities

The following activities are currently under way in Wake County.

NCDOT Adopt-A-Highway – Volunteer groups enter into a 4-year agreement to clean up litter on a two-mile stretch of road at least four times a year. There are 440 groups 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.

NCDOT Litter Sweep – Biannual volunteer cleanup event.

NCDOC Inmate Crews – Minimum-security inmate litter cleanup on primary roads and highways.

Neuse River Cleanup – Annual cleanup of the Neuse River and its tributaries.

litter pickersNorth Carolina Big Sweep – Nonprofit agency devoted to clearing waterways and adjacent roads of litter during late September/early October.

Community Services Work Program – Wake County is working with the Division of Community Corrections to organize weekend litter cleanup project for citizens sentenced to community service by the criminal justice system.

Feed the Bin Litter Kits – Feed the Bin School Recycling Program offers Litter Clean-Up Kits to all FTB WCPSS schools for checkout. These kits can be used to clean up a variety of areas, including school campuses, roadsides and waterways.

Wake County Solid Waste Facilities – Operating contracts at South Wake Landfill and East Wake Transfer Station include provisions for collecting litter generated by incoming and outgoing trucks.


Public Outreach & Education

Composition of Roadside LitterPublic outreach and education play a critical role in addressing the root causes and sources of litter – targeting those who litter, changing public attitudes, and instilling a sense of community pride and awareness. A significant body of research exists regarding the causes of litter and the target audience for anti-litter campaigns. The most persistent, deliberate litterers tend to be between the ages of 11 and 24 years old. The primary reasons people litter include:
  • No sense of ownership or stewardship – just don’t care
  • Believe that someone else will pick up after them
  • Unaware of the link between the environment and their littering behavior
  • Believe it is acceptable because litter has already accumulated in a location
  • Convenience
  • Willful littering to make a statement
  • Unintentional
  • People who think it is acceptable to litter in certain circumstances gave the following reasons for doing so:
    • The waste was organic
    • No bins were available
    • At sporting event where waste is collected

NCDOT Bus Placard Campaign: Signs on Raleigh CAT buses promote awareness that tossing cigarette butts is considered littering, which is an illegal, fineable offense.

NCDOT Keep North Carolina Clean and Green: Slogan to remind the public not to litter. Signs are posted along highways and at State Parks.

NCDOT Swat-A-Litterbug Program: Provides citizens with methods to report litterbugs. NCDOT sends vehicle owner a letter stating they were observed littering and had law enforcement caught them, it would have resulted in a fine.