I’m sure we’ve all heard it before, “Litter Trashes Everyone”. This is the slogan used by the well known organization, Palmetto Pride. Palmetto Pride is a state-wide effort in South Carolina that aims to create a zero-waste and trashless life for all its residents and visitors. Palmetto Pride has been fighting the litter issue in South Carolina for over 20 years, and works closely with other organizations in South Carolina, such as the Department of Transportation, to get all citizens in South Carolina to fight the litter problem.

One of the biggest initiatives that Palmetto Pride encourages is the Adopt-A-Highway program. This program allows groups, individuals, and schools the opportunity to “adopt” a stretch of main road or highway to clean up. Many of these cleanups take place on weekend mornings, or for schools, immediately after the last bell, to allow as much daylight as possible to clean up the roads. Adopt-A-Highway in South Carolina has cleaned up more than 60 million pounds of litter across major roads and highways, from the 843 to the 864! As a student in high school, I participated in at least five Adopt-A-Highway events. In college, I have only participated in two or three. I highly encourage every person to volunteer for this event at least once in his or her life! It is amazing to see what trash that one person can collect. The most I’ve ever filled by myself was 3 bags – and that was in just about 2 hours! Imagine if volunteers could spend all day, or even just half a day, on the roadways. South Carolina would be ~sparkling clean~ in just one weekend!!

Some fun, and unfortunately, a few not-so-fun, facts I learned from the Palmetto Pride booth at the Southeastern Wildlife Expo were the following: there are over 51 billion pieces of litter on American roadways each year, which approximates to more than 6700 pieces of litter per mile. Yes, you read that right! There are more pieces of litter in each mile than there are FEET in a mile! Secondly, Palmetto Pride’s Prideway program has reduced litter on South Carolina roads by 66%. TWO THIRDS! This is a phenomenal amount over 20 years. Could you imagine how the roads and natural areas would look if the Prideway program had never been created? Our national parks and highways in South Carolina would not be as beautiful and preserved as they currently are. Lastly, and most disappointingly, many of the things that we use on a daily basis are not biodegradable. For instance, cigarette butts (see picture below) are definitely not biodegradable. This might be the most dangerous, because as litter, cigarette butts seem appealing to animals in the environment and get eaten by animals. This puts animals and humans both at risk. Also, tobacco and nicotine are nasty and not good for your body, so smoking cigarettes or cigars is really not a good idea to begin with. Other daily-use items that are not biodegradable include, but are not limited to: plastic grocery bags (“Walmart bags”), styrofoam cups, plastic bottles, and the nylon that is in most of our clothes. I encourage everyone to take a step back and cut as many of these items out of their lives as possible. Use reusable grocery bags at the store, a Yeti cup might not be a bad investment, and try to shop for clothes that use recycled material!

We can all see that litter is a problem, and we all have the ability to fix it. Aside from using reusable, safely sourced items, each person can take just a few steps in their daily lives to cut down the litter and clean up the country. Remember the principles we were all taught in elementary school: REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE!!! Take the extra two steps to the blue recycling bin on campus, create a recycling bin for your household, and make sure you check what you’re tossing in the trash. Also, make sure to volunteer and clean up whatever litter you can, and do it as often as possible!