Video: County Supervisor Urges Residents To Stop Littering

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NORTHEAST, Miss. (WCBI)- District 3 Supervisor Carol Crawford is disgusted at the sight of food bags and beer cans tossed up and down Monroe County roads.

“On a dark, dreary, rainy day, garbage seems to jump out at you! Which makes it even darker and drearier because you realize how much garbage is out there. None of us would go through our mothers house dropping trash throughout the house because you would be caught pretty quickly and told not to do that. So why would you go throughout our county throwing garbage when you can easily take it home and put it in a trash can,” said Crawford.

Crawford is now pushing residents to step up and clean up. She has even come up with a creative phrase.

“I thought of a little slogan called ‘ Company Coming!’ When you’re a kid and your folks tell you company’s coming, you knew you had to straighten up, clean up your room real fast and change clothes perhaps. You didn’t want them to see how you lived everyday! Not many people are aware that outside companies coming in to evaluate us for a site and a new industry, they look at the side of the roads. Those things are a mark against our county,” said Crawford.

Lowndes County is also tightening the lid on trash clean up.

“We hired 2 people that actually go out with 2 different vans everyday and pick up. We picked up around 4,300 bags of garbage since September and we average now 20-30 bags a day,” said Ronnie Burns, road manager for Lowndes County.

So far it’s been a big success. The difference? Crews pick up 5 days a week, 8 hours a day.

“If we find a place where people have actually started dumping, we immediately clean it up. We don’t let it lay there because the longer you let it lay there, somebody will come along and dump,” said Burns.

So, next time you decide to dump your trash on the road, this litter patrol says think about the impact it can have on your town, visually and economically.

“You want it to be clean when they’re looking at industry or even coming in to live, we want them to see a clean place,” said Burns.

“Face it, a girl goes out on a date, she puts on some lipstick and combs her hair, a guy maybe puts on a tie, perhaps, or at least cleans his dirty clothes, whatever. So let’s just clean up our county!” said Crawford.

Crawford suggests creating a day where people can come together and pick up trash in their neighborhoods, making a greater effort to keep Monroe County beautiful.