earlxx

Two weeks ago I visited Asheville during my 3-day business trip. Then took two more days to drive around visiting small towns sometime recommended by a few local posters on this board. What a gorgeous area! the views were magnificent. However, I was surprised and sad to see that people who live there do not care how the place where they live looks. Along roads less and more traveled there was garbage everywhere. Why?

cmcfong

I sponsor an Adopt a Highway stretch of road in North Carolina and wonder the same thing, too, Earlxx. Besides the obvious reason that there is a huge number of incredibly stupid people who litter on purpose, there is also the explanation that a lot of folks take their trash to a dump rather than having pickup. Unfortunately many of them fail to secure the load and it blows out of the back of their trucks and all over our roads. It is disgusting, particularly since we have such gorgeous countryside and the beautiful wildflower projects.

beach_dweller

earlxx,

think you might be generalizing just a bit there? Your post title implies that the entirety of three states (out of 50) are awash in garbage. I live in Myrtle Beach, and have been pleasantly surprised at the lack of trash along roadsides.

That said, too often I do see people throwing out trash from their cars--from a few locals, sad to say, and a few tourists. Also, as cmcfong pointed out, sometimes the trash is inadertently spilled (or even blown during a storm) due to failure of folks to make sure it is secure.

Gretchen

OR it might be just before the adopted highway is due for its cleanup. Near the highway dumpsters set up for small communities to leave their trash there is often a good bit of trash. I have to say, I don't see a lot of this and we travel in NC and SC.

earlxx

Gretchen, there is no place in my post where I compared these three states to any other state including my own.

I am surprised there is so much garbage in such beautiful area. I feel so sad for those who cannot see there is a big problem with trash along roads. Do people think that because someone (person or organization)is so generous by adopting a highway they are not obligated to keep roads clean?
What do you do in your community to keep your area clean?

JJ5

I am out on small road Illinois, Indiana and Michigan quite often. It is a problem by me that has definitely increased in the last 2 years.

Weather is one factor,as is construction - storms have blown all kinds of materials into fields etc. But I believe in our case, that the community service hours going to cleanup (crews were formed to do specific pick ups before)have greatly decreased to other jobs.

Some in my neighborhood have commented on my picking up construction debris etc. and including it in my own garbage. Not in a bad way, but they rather make "fun" of me for doing it. Yes, it does all blow away- but to somewhere else.

Littering on highways has increased- especially drink cups / bottles. It is against the law, but people do not heed and do not suffer consequences often enough. Police have so much more serious offenses to contend with.

I must give Michigan kudos for this, as they have less litter /garbage on highways than most. And they have adopt a highway signs posted.

When I was in states you posted, I did notice that whole garbage bags / split were dumped in spots. I think you have to catch the culprits and that takes lots of manpower.

We have had such bad storms in later years that we have lost sheds, garbage containers, roofing tiles etc. I find tywrap twisted round my trees, bushes after storms.

earlxx

JJ5, I did not think about the weather part. There was a big flood in the area I visited. Nonetheless, all these bags, cups, diapers, bottles had to come from somewhere. I hope these three states will clean up messy roads before too many people get an idea it is OK to throw things out of the car's window.

Tandoori_Girl

In Florida, we have prisoners pick up our highway trash. Perhaps there aren't as many evil-doers in NC, SC, and TN.

Scarlett

Would that be White Trash? LOL
Please, just a joke!!

We have plenty of evil-doers then in Jax also. There are always people in jumpsuits working alongside the roads.
But I do think 1-anywhere by a highway where people throw things out of cars or things are wind tossed by the traffic, you will see more trash, 2- the weather, wind and rain here causes plenty of roadside litter, must be just as bad everywhere else.
I remember driving down from NY last winter, NJ and Wash DC didn't look too clean either.

GoTravel

Because we are trashy people earl.

Since you have been so fortunate enough to have traveled ALL of the roads in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, which areas did you like best?

Which stretch of road was trashiest?

Where the people trashy also?

How about the homes?

You are correct. We do not care about our roads or enviroment.

None of us care.

Waldo

Because the trash doesn't go home at night!

shaz60

I don't think any of these states have a bottle bill. Also I think that in states with lots of rural areas, it is more difficult to get trash to places that will dispose of it. It probably does blow out the back of the truck as cmcfong suggested. Some trash,like construction debris, is nearly impossible to get rid of legally. I don't think that these beautiful states have more trash than other places though. My new pet peeve is the losing scratch tickets that disgruntled lottery losers toss everywhere. Makes me want to scream. By the way, the bottle bill (deposit for cans and bottles that is returned to you when you turn them in) has greatly reduced that kind of garbage from the roadsides.

gail

Two thoughts - First, trash begets trash. I think people are far less inclined to throw trash on a clean ground than a dirty one (every see anyone throw trash on the ground at Disney?) We didn't, and guessed it was because it just didn't feel right since it was already so pristine.

Second, around where I live some communities have gone to stickers or "pay as you throw" methods of collecting trash - instead of just having trash collection covered in taxes, you pay per bag. What has happened is that people dump trash bags in and near public trash cans, on the highway, anywhere but at home where they have to pay.

xrae

My biggest litter pet peeve is smokers who think nothing of throwing their butts out the window at stop signs or lights. GRRRRRRRRR. As if that's not litter??!

It's sad that our ditch lines are full of litter. Blowing trash does account for some, but certainly not all of it. I've seen people toss their fast food bags and cups out the window without flinching. What gives? And I know of others who think throwing out aluminum cans is ok, since people make a "livelihood" out of picking up cans for cash.

I don't get it. :-\

Cassandra

This is the sort of obliquely offensive, provocative post that doesn't really seem like curiosity so much as criticism of an entire region of the US.

What kind of answer could possibly "satisfy" earlxx, after all? That people in these states are, indeed, as he suspects, just slobs (GREAT response GoTravel)? That these are poor, rural states with limited resources and limited numbers of people to deal with such problems? That a 3-day stay never justifies a broad, negative generalization? Or that trash-bearing flying saucers just happened to strafe the 3 states with trash just before his visit?

BTW: 2 weeks ago was Christmas -- was he perhaps expecting to see the prisoners, of which we have way too many, out on the roads, of which we have a lot more per person than many other places, picking up trash tossed by people passing through on their way somewhere else?

Cassandra

2 weeks ago was New Years' but the point holds.

ronkala

Because we ae slobs and lazy. Why hold the trash in a car and have to take the time to dump it at home, rest stop or where-ever when it can go out the window.

Why are the roads in France spotless? Probably because the people care.

GoTravel

For fun we empty ashtrays on scenic highways. Even if we don't smoke. We just collect the butts from the side of the road.

ddcnga

At the risk of being lambasted, I will offer my two cents worth(less). I was born and raised in SC. I lived there until I was in my early 30's. All three of my children were born in SC. I live in GA now.

Growing up in the early 60's in SC, I recall my parents, relatives, and friend's parents throwing trash out of the car window without a second thought. In the mid-to late 60's, Lady Bird Johnson came along. For those of you old enough to remember, she was BIG on "America The Beautiful". One of her big pojects was to put fences around junk yards and thus it happened in SC. There was suddenly an awareness of littering as well. My parents became a lot less likely, once fines were instituted for littering, to litter. It trickled down, and littering became less predominate.

I recall that about the time I left SC in 1986, I noticed more litter than I had in years. Maybe it was the prevailing politicians or other things just became more important than catching and ticketing "litter bugs."

I moved to Atlanta and was pleasantly surprised by how much less junky the roadsides were, not to mention the much nicer roads themselves. GA, in comparison to SC, has a MUCH better highway system (not to say it's perfect, just better). GA also uses inmates for roadside clean-up. Most everyone who gets a DUI here, if the are incarcerated, does trash pickup (WOOHOO!).

I still have family in SC and I drive from ATL to Cola, to Charleston regularly. The roadsides are more littered on the SC side than the GA side. It's a shame, but that's just the way it is. Keep in mind, I'm driving interstates, not rural roads, for the most part.

So much for my two cents.

DD

earlxx

I am sorry if I offended some of you. It wasn't my intention. I really enjoyed this beautiful area nd would return in a heart beat for much longer vacation. Perhaps garbage is more visible when you are surronded by such beauty. Those incredible vistas! I did not notice any trash along the sections of Blue Ridge Parkway.
Come on Cassandra, give me a break.