Garbage has become more than a monstrosity on the state’s roads.
South Carolina Department of Transportation officials say it has become a growing problem since the pandemic began in early 2020. While the department seeks to increase its efforts against waste, it is a problem that will require state and local efforts to overcome.
“We believe that the garbage on our highways has reached an almost epidemic proportion,” said Ted Creech, assistant director of public relations at SCDOT. “The roads in our beautiful state are more rubbish than ever.”
Crews with SCDOT regularly clean up trash on state roads as areas are cut or worked, said Creech; however, due to the pandemic, the department lost a vital resource that caused garbage to accumulate.
In mid-March 2020, the SC Corrections Department suspended all job release programs, including teams specifically focused on garbage collection, to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in state prisons, said Chrysti Shain, director of communications from the SC Department of Corrections.
Under normal circumstances, the Corrections Department has 22 stretcher teams made up of a maximum of 10 inmates each, who work five days a week throughout the year, except in bad weather.
In 2019, about 220 inmates worked on stretcher teams. They cleared 15,027 miles in total; 9,886 were interstate miles and 5,141 were secondary road miles. The teams collected a total of 107,282 bags of trash in 2019, Shain said.
It is not yet clear when the state’s work teams will be resumed.
“We don’t have a date for them to come back,” said Shain. “Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have been taking this month by month; and towards the end of the month, we reevaluated the situation within the community. We observed the spread of the community, the number of cases, whether they are going up or down and looking for the best advice from DHEC and CDC on whether we can allow the crews to return. “
Trash Challenge
With correctional work teams temporarily suspended, garbage maintenance became a greater challenge.
The increase in the amount of garbage poses several threats to the state, including pollution of waterways and even costing jobs in South Carolina, Creech said.
“It is a concern for us,” said Creech. “Economic development is also a victim of garbage as the state recruits new businesses and industry. Companies that have been attracted to South Carolina may have doubts about the location here due to the ugly garbage on our interstates that they would use to move their products. . “
To stem the tide of the growing garbage problem in the state, the Department of Transportation has almost doubled its garbage collection efforts using outsourced services.
Last week, SCDOT teams were seen filling several bags with garbage collected on the 61-kilometer stretch of I-20 that runs through Aiken County. The teams will lead collection efforts once a month and will focus mainly on interstate garbage.
The Department of Transportation will spend about $ 2 million a year on contract work to collect garbage along interstates. Funding for the project comes from the department’s operations budget, said Creech.
While teams will still remove waste on primary and secondary road systems when cutting operations take place, major cleaning efforts on roads outside interstate highways will need to be done locally, said Creech.
Local garbage efforts
In Aiken County, the growing garbage problem has not gone unnoticed.
Aiken County Councilor Andrew Siders said he was in the early stages of bringing together local organizations in the area against rubbish.
“We have a big problem in Aiken County,” said Siders of the garbage. “I think everyone recognizes it. Sometimes it gets to the point where you see so much that you just ignore because it’s just there. The biggest thing is to see a need and then help solve it.”
Aiken County has no shortage of anti-trash organizations.
Keep Aiken County Beautiful, a program from the Aiken County Code Enforcement Division, spearheaded garbage collection efforts and encouraged volunteers to help.
A new local group called Clean Up Aiken! continued to raise awareness of the Aiken County garbage problem through social media and spearheaded several garbage collection efforts in the area.
New local group plans to clean up Aiken County garbage
South Carolina’s anti-trash and beautification organization, PalmettoPride, has led efforts to organize local garbage collection and educational efforts across the state for the past 20 years.
“What I’m doing is trying to bring together some of the people who are leading the local efforts and I want to work with them as the county and help them and then work with the state to get as many resources as possible to do that,” said Siders . “My goal is to hear people say that Aiken County is the cleanest in the state, but it will take a lot of effort – a public-private partnership, not just with the county, but with the state, with the resources and manpower to do it. this. “
While the public is encouraged to find a local group to volunteer to collect garbage, the SC Department of Transportation believes that one of the best ways to help combat the growing garbage problem in the state is to not throw garbage.
Research suggests that more than 80% of people who throw garbage do it intentionally, says the PalmettoPride website.
In South Carolina, intentionally dumping garbage and even garbage flying from unprotected cargo can result in a court-ordered fine and / or community service.
“(The) main point is that we encourage all drivers to stop using highways, communities and neighborhoods as garbage cans,” said Creech. “Grab your litter and throw it in rubbish bins.”