KENNEWICK, Wash. –
Over the last few years, both the Washington State Departments of Transportation and the Department of Ecology have had difficulty keeping up with the amount of trash thrown onto the roads in part due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Washington state spends about 12 million dollars a year to try and pick up a fraction of the 22 million tons of trash estimated to be on Washington roads according to Amber Smith-Jones, State Litter Prevention Coordinator with the Department of Ecology.
A study and focus groups facilitated by the department recently asked people if they littered. Many of those that claimed to litter do it because they don’t have a place for it in their car according to Smith-Jones.
That’s why part of the Department of Ecology’s “Simple as That” campaign for earth month is giving away free bags at Fried Meyer stores throughout the state.
She said 26% also admitted they would be less likely to litter if a friend, family member or passenger asked them not to.
“So, we are encouraging that positive peer pressure those little nudges, to do the right thing. That can really help change behavior too,” she said.
She said that in addition to litter impacting wildlife and marine life when it washes away from the roadway and how ugly it can be to have trash, litter can be dangerous.
“Roadside litter causes more than 300 traffic crashes a year in Washington including fatalities,” she said.
