DATE: 5/11/06

CONTACT: Ernest Church, (803) 637-3161

WRITER: Diane Palmer, (864) 656-4741

Clemson Extension works with concerned citizens to clean up Greenwood County

GREENWOOD - More than 100,000 pounds of litter have been cleared from public roads in Greenwood County since a Litter Task Force was launched more than five years ago.

Litter has a serious, negative effect on the economy and the image of South Carolina and Greenwood County, according to Clemson Extension’s Regional Community Development Agent Ernest Church.

Church, who also coordinates the Adopt A Highway (AAH) Program in two other counties, wanted to do something about it. He, with the help of former Greenwood Index Journal News Editor Bob Bentley and a group of volunteers launched a nonprofit organization called the "Pitch In Litter Task Force".

The vision of the organization was set at the first meeting: Change the culture of how citizens in Greenwood county view litter and the care of public lands.

The task force raised about $30,000 and started implementing projects to change that culture. They designed litter costumes that could be used at public events, bought time on radio stations for anti-litter messages, created banners to promote their anti litter theme and placed them around the county, and spoke to groups about the litter problem in the county.

Each June, they recognized public officials that had made a difference in anti litter efforts. About three years ago, the group decided that to continue to raise money, and write grants, this organization needed to hire an attorney and work toward non profit status (501c3). The group received their charter about two years ago.

Another problem the organization noticed was all the trash that continued to build up in public road right of ways, despite their efforts. Church, who had coordinated the existing AAH program for 15 years, said that much more needed to be done. The AAH groups were only getting about 25,000 pounds a litter each year. He decided to link the coordinator of the group’s AAH program at Probation and Parole with the county litter officer to see if their potential man-power and resources could aid in this litter problem.

"This collaboration has led to a tremendous boast in litter removal,” said Church. “Paroles supervised by the county litter officer, have picked up a majority of all the litter in the past three years. Also, a new collaboration has formed to use county jail inmates to pick up litter.”

The South Carolina Department of Transportation , who many citizens wanted to pick up this litter, have other duties such as signs to maintain, grass to cut, drainage problems, pot holes to fix, and dead animals to remove . They don't have the personnel to remove all the trash from these public areas."

The “Pitch In Litter Task Force” also supports litter education in the three Greenwood County school districts, as well as the Adopt a Highway Program, Palmetto Pride and the State Litter Task Force, formed by Senator Thomas.

Church urges everyone to take pride in the 7,000 miles of roads in the county and become a better steward of all our public lands. Citizens interested in getting involved should contact Church at echurch@clemson.edu.

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