Litter tossed on Pennsylvania roadways costs taxpayers millions of dollars
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Pennsylvanians toss 5.2 million pieces of litter onto the state's highways every year, according to PennDOT.
On Monday, state officials announced a new campaign to combat what has become a costly clean-up exercise. PA Fights Dirty, the state's new anti-littering effort, aims to change the behavior of those who think roads are their waste cans or ashtrays.
"That cigarette butt that you flicked to the ground because a smoking station was a few feet away, that mindset has helped amass 186 million littered cigarette butts," said Mike Hanna of the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development.
It's not just cigarette butts dropped or thrown out a car window. Fast food cups and paper receipts are also tossed, and the cleanup costs millions of tax dollars.
"Statewide, we spend $14 million a year to clean up litter. And just in Allegheny County alone last year, we spent over $1 million," Cheryl Moon-Sirianni, PennDOT District 11 executive, told KDKA-TV money editor Jon Delano. "And we took 17,000 manhours from our staff that should have been doing things like filling potholes and paving roads."
Moon-Sirianni said it's a serious problem that PennDOT is not equipped to solve.
"We don't have time to pick up litter on any other roads. We can't even pick it up on the interstates," Moon-Sirianni said.
In 2020, Keep PA Beautiful, a Greensburg-based non-profit organization, studied the state's litter problem.
"That study found that over 500 million pieces of litter on our roadway at any time, so it's a significant problem. We were also able to learn that cigarette butts are our number one problem. Plastics, number two, are a huge problem," says Heidi Pedicone, director of programs.
Pedicone says littering is against the law – a summary offense.
"Those fines are generally $50 to $300 depending on how the ticket is written," Pedicone said.
Some littering is accidental, like overturned trash cans on your property. Myrna Newman with Allegheny CleanWays has tips on what you can do.
"Making sure you clean up after an animal gets into the trash. Those are important. Making sure things are secured in the back of your pickup if you drive a pickup. Always very important. And lastly, volunteering to pick up litter in your neighborhood," says Newman.
PA FIghts Dirty will be a public awareness and media campaign. The state says 97 percent of us oppose littering yet nearly half of us litter, often inadvertently. Being more aware may help.
