Litter harms our communities
L
ocal resident Randy Herndon wrote last week to ask, “We have a serious problem in Cherokee County. Will you please run an article and help educate those that choose to litter?”
Litter Free N.C. has written something on the subject that is just as relevant in Cherokee County as it is in Charlotte. Everyone knows that litter creates an eyesore and an image problem – but littering is not only ugly, it can be dangerous.
It harms the environment. It endangers wildlife and animal habitats. It hurts economic development and creates a public safety hazard.
Motorists who swerve to avoid debris in the road risk losing control of their vehicle. Litter and debris blowing from unsecured loads on trucks can strike other vehicles, obscure a driver’s vision, damage vehicles and even injure drivers.
When a sofa fell off the back of a pick-up truck June 9 on Interstate 40 near Davis Drive in the Research Triangle Park, a tractor-trailer could not stop in time, nor could four other vehicles following the truck. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured.
The tractor-trailer, however, was carrying $20 million worth of insulin that was destroyed when the refrigeration system quit working. The pickup driver was charged with failure to secure load.
Littering is against the law. When a law enforcement officer spots a litterer in action they could be fined up to $1,000 for the first offense and up to $2,000 for the second offense. Also, upon a finding of guilt, the driver can receive a penalty of one point on his/her driver’s license.
Litter is a costly problem. Cleaning litter from North Carolina’s roadsides costs taxpayers millions of dollars each year. In 2015, the state spent more than $15 million cleaning up seven million pounds of roadside trash.
Countless volunteers and civic groups worked alongside busy highways, country roads and waterways to pick up litter. Also, cigarette butts are considered litter and are not readily biodegradable.
There are many things you can do to combat the growing litter problem, but the easiest way to help is to set a good example for others by not littering.
Here are some ways you can make a difference:
- Teach young people not to litter.
- Cover truck and trailer beds when transporting trash or other loose items.
- Carry and use a litter bag in your vehicle
- Report litterbugs when you see them to the NCDOT Swat-A-Litterbug program at www.ncdot.gov.
For details, contact N.C. Department of Public Safety at 512 N. Salisbury St. in Raleigh; send mail to the office at 4201 Mail Service Center in Raleigh; or you can call 919-733-2126.
Closer to home, check out the Cherokee County Anti-Litter in Action Coalition’s Facebook page and get involved. Your community needs your help.
– Publisher David Brown
and the N.C. Department of Public Safety