Litter along our nation's highways.

[cilla4progress]

Disgusting, gross, copious.Getting so much worse every year.

Are others seeing this? I wonder if Sec. Pete has any solutions.

Why do we accept this?

[roamer65]

1. Yeah, I'm getting sick of Trump signs too.

I classify those as littering as well.

[riversedge]

6. I see them so often also. I want to use of paint spray on them but I know that is illegal.

[a kennedy]

9. We've got a flag and a yard sign of tRump still in our neighborhood.....makes me sick.

[pwb]

2. My State cleans our roads. They look nice.

Southern highways like 95 have blown out tires and oranges and you name it all over the place last I drove there. It is a state thing I guess. State plows plow the interstates? Maintenance of interstates are suppose to be done by the States. If states don't clean them Pete may be able to cut the funding they get to maintain them. IMO.

[Elessar Zappa]

3. In my neck of the woods, littering problems

have lessened substantially since the 90s. Not sure why but the roadsides are cleaner here.

[sinkingfeeling]

4. Trash is thrown everywhere by our populace. I walk around a local duck

pond (with more Canadian Geese than ducks) and there are cans, broken bottles, plastic sacks, and 3 Walmart shopping carts all around the edges. I just don't understand throwing things down where ever you are.

[Skittles]

12. when I take a walk I take a bag with me and pick up trash

it is AMAZING how much trash is out there

[csziggy]

25. My husband does that, too

Just be careful - while at a state park in South Carolina, he reached under a bush to pick up a can, then pulled back when he realized that the pile of leaves in front of the can was actually a copperhead snake. He was really lucky that it apparently had eaten recently and was not in a cranky mood!

Next time I go for a walk with him, I will take along my reacher tool. Then I can reach under bushes and if there are snakes there, they can bit the aluminum shaft and not one of our hands.

[Skittles]

29. heh!

I am very careful indeed. I didn't even try to get a supermarket basket out of a nice creek I love to walk by, but told someone I had loaned 50 bucks if they could get it out they wouldn't have to pay be back. Problem solved the same day!

[TwilightZone]

5. Texas is pretty aggressive about cleaning up along highways.

"Don't Mess With Texas" was (literally) an anti-littering campaign well before it was a W catchphrase.

On the other side, I lived in Omaha for nearly 20 years and it was one of the dirtiest towns I've seen. Ironic, because there's loads of money there. They're just terrified to tax appropriately for services.

[Delmette2.0]

14. Before W there was Lady Bird Johnson.

First Lady Johnson started a program in the 1960's in Texas to clean up the highways and replant wildflowers. When she became FLOTUS the program went nationwide. It was called Green Thumb.

Sorry, W does not get credit for it.

[TwilightZone]

19. My point was that the slogan came from the littering campaign.

It dates to 1985 - it was developed by advertising agency GSD&M in Austin for the Texas Department of Transportation.

W just appropriated it.

[rsdsharp]

20. I remember that. If memory serves she had a "Beautify America" program.

It included trying to minimize or eliminate billboards on highways, as well as picking up (and discouraging) litter.

[Delmette2.0]

24. Oh yes, the billboards, too.

[stillcool]

7. I haven't seen any...

at all. Huge fines help, but I don't think there are even signs any more.

[cilla4progress]

8. This is Washington state.

Guess I'll write to Gov. Inslee.

Used to be prison crews, students cleaning them.

[Ferryboat]

10. Washington state has gotten worse over the years

People used to care. I think it has alot to do with excessive packaging. That and people just dont care or can't be bothered.

My neighbor put out a box of old paint thinking someone might want it. Despite a hazardous household waste site a mile away or habitat for humanity store close by.

Local waste management are the worst offenders. I clean up the alley the day after pick up because litter is all over the place.

[cilla4progress]

13. Same at my rural

eastern Washington home! I see litter fly out of the garbage truck every time. Walk around and pick it up out of my pastures - gross!!

[jimfields33]

11. Could it be that the adopt the highway program was

interrupted for a year due to coronavirus? I’d imagine that would be partly the reason.

[Peacetrain]

15. It used to be bloody awful when I was a kid.. it is much better now

and a lot of the thank you for that goes to Lady Bird Johnson.. she made it her thing as First Lady.. cleaning up the highways

[Shermann]

16. There was a story on the local NC news

The highway cleanup crews aren't working due to CV-19

It's a shame how quickly the litter accumulates.

Some of it is blown out of garbage trucks. Much is just carelessly (and illegally) tossed out of vehicles.

[cilla4progress]

17. Yes, I was wondering about this.

I think it should be a special project on Earth Day every year. I typically do a trash pickup on the stretch out front of my home on that day every year

[Solly Mack]

18. I got into a car one evening for a first and only date, saw the inside of the car

and said, "I see you're an environmentalist". (all the litter was in the car)

That's not why it was the only date. It was because he didn't get the joke that really wasn't a joke. Hopefully he invested in paper bags to store his treasures.

[ChazII]

21. I have not traveled. My church has adopted a one mile

stretch in front of our building for our city. We will be picking up trash March 20. The city provides the trash bags, masks and gloves.

[luv2fly]

22. McDonalds trash and cheap beer cans

Litter the roadside ditches throughout rural Wisconsin. It is disgusting indeed.

[Keth]

23. you know..

how hard is it to keep a trash bag in your vehicle and put your waste in the bag? I was out riding my bike when I got a flat tire and was about 2 miles from home. So, I walked my bike and for the first time noticed how much trash was along the rode - fast food bags, pizza boxes, beer and soda cans, etc. I came across a large garbage bag that was busted open and all kinds of trash had leaked from it.

Just so sad. It's such a simple thing to ask and do - keep your outside clean.

[Goodheart]

26. My own state, sadly, is the absolute worst.

Louisiana, that is.

I guess it's tougher to dig trash out of the swamps that so frequently line the highways here, but I'm going to be honest... it's 99% because people don't give a damn.

[csziggy]

27. Here in Florida, they had a program where groups or people 'adopt' roadways

And walk along, picking up garbage. Unfortunately, a lot of the groups that were originally enthusiastic have dropped off over the last decade or so. It's too bad, because when people learned how much trash there is thrown out, they tend to reduce what they dump and influence their friends into doing that, too.

Adopt a Highway Program

Volunteers enter into a two-year agreement with DOT, during which they agree to conduct litter removal at regularly scheduled intervals. Many miles of highway are adopted statewide by various organizations, allowing civic-minded people to make a difference in their communities. This eases the load of DOT work crews, enabling them to devote more time to other road maintenance and special highway projects.

Volunteers Agree to:

"Adopt" a two-mile section of a State Highway
Dedicate two years to the program
Follow specified DOT safety regulations
Remove litter a minimum of four times each year

More: https://www.fdot.gov/maintenance/aahinfo.shtm

[IbogaProject]

28. East coast it's horrible

It is quite bad all over the North East. Though the highways themselves are better cleaned than my midtown NYC block.

[Pobeka]

30. Seems like it got much worse during the pandemic.

Everywhere, not just highways. I see it in local roads too. S. Puget Sound area.