• Seven Sources of Litter

• Adopt A Road Program

• Great American Cleanup

• Litter Index

Seven Sources of Litter
We know that there is no such thing as a single littering type.  What we do know is that there are seven primary sources of litter:

• Pedestrians or cyclists who do not use receptacles.
• Motorists who do not use car ashtrays or litterbags.
• Business dumpsters that are improperly covered.
• Loading docks and commercial or recreational marinas with inadequate waste receptacles.
• Construction and demolition sites without tarps and receptacles to contain debris and waste.
• Trucks with uncovered loads on local roads and highways..
• Household trash scattered before or during collection.

No matter where litter starts, it moves.  From streets and highways to parks and waterways.  Wind and weather moves litter around a community, into the gutters, planted gardens, alleyways and parking areas. In one study, researchers found that 18% of all littered items end up in our streams and waterways as pollution.

Keep America Beautiful has determined that people litter because:

• They feel no sense of ownership, even though areas such as parks and beaches are public property.
• They believe someone else—a park maintenance or highway worker— will pick up after them.
• Litter already has accumulated.

Litter: What Can YOU Do?
…... By modeling proper trash and waste disposal, you will cause others to consider their actions, too.
The Hancock County Solid Waste Management District has an employee responsible for overseeing the maintaining of litter free roadways. Clair Kinsinger, Litter Crew Supervisor has more than 532 sq. miles of Hancock County to maintain. Your efforts of proper trash disposal and debris collection will help keep our community beautiful.

Adopt  A Road Program
The "Adopt A Road Program" provides not only school and church organizations, but families, and other special interest groups the opportunity to play an active role in their community.

To participate; volunteer group(s) accepts the responsibility of removing litter and other debris from a designated two-mile section of a county or township roadway four times a year, for a two-year period.

In recognition of your efforts, Hancock County will post a sign in your designated area. For more information regarding the "Adopt A Road" Program, please email us or write to this address:

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Great American Cleanup
www.kab.org

The Hancock County Solid Waste Management District Environmental Services Office will be holding its Annual Spring Clean Up as in years past.  This event is in affiliation with Keep America Beautiful’s (KAB) Great American Cleanup.  The Great American Cleanup is the nations largest organized litter prevention, beautification and community improvement program.   "The Great American Cleanup embodies America's can-do spirit with millions of volunteers taking the environment into their own hands.  Americans are rallying together to clean up graffiti, eliminate litter and preserve our waterways to create a cleaner, safer and more beautiful environment for generations to come," said G. Raymond Empson, president of Keep America Beautiful.    In 2005, 2.4 million Great American Cleanup volunteers across the United States collected a record breaking 208 million pounds of litter and debris; planted 4.2 million flowers and bulbs; cleaned 176 miles or roads, streets and highways; and cleaned 10,250 miles of rivers, lakes and shorelines.

The Hancock County Solid Waste Management District Environmental Services Office will be holding its Annual Spring Clean Up/Litter Awareness Week from April 21- April 28, 2007.  A cleaner environment allows for a more beautiful, safer and healthier community in which everyone can enjoy living and working within.  As a community, we all need to take responsibility and achieve this goal for our environment.  Your volunteer organization or family members may hold its cleanup project any day during the month of April or on our designated Spring Clean Up Day, April 28, 2007.  It is up to each group when they prefer to do their cleanup, but please notify our office so that we can track all areas of improvement!  For more information about getting involved in the Hancock County Spring Clean up simply contact us.

Locally, Hancock County SWMD Environmental Services 2006 Participation included:

• Hosted eleven (11) community events
• Worked at least 3,768 hours
• Coordinated more than 1,256 local volunteers
• Collected 11,420 pounds of trash/debris
• Recycled more than 46,790 pounds of materials
• Beautified over 213 miles of roadways and streams

Congratulations to all!

Great Job to those who participated! – There is still time to get involved next year! Contact the Hancock County SWMD Environmental Services Office at 419-424-7210 or at HancockSWMD@co.hancock.oh.us .

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Litter Index:
This is an evaluation of land areas, roadways and sites within the community as well as waterways located within Hancock County. This activity is part of being affiliated with Keep America Beautiful.  Areas are divided in to townships and villages with specific location for recording. This is used as a control to measure effectiveness of the litter prevention programs. On a scale of 1-4 (1 being absolutely NO litter and 4 being excessively littered) each identified area is then scored. These numbers are then averaged to obtain and overall Litter Score for Hancock County.   Each time different scorers are used to incorporate different perspectives about litter issues.  The purpose is to obtain absolutely “no litter” (all 1’s) on the ground, which is something we can all agree on.

320 South Main Street • Findlay, Ohio 45840 • Phone: 419-424-7210 • Fax: 419-424-7416
 

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