Horry County continues its on-going efforts to tackle litter problems – an issue some compare to a revolving door.
“It’s a constant supply of litter,” Horry County Public Works Director David Gilreath explained. “All the trash that’s on the roads we maintain is basically fresh trash.”
On Tuesday evening, Gilreath presented a litter update to Horry County Council in Conway. Gilreath’s roadside litter teams, according to the report, collected 1,097 bags of trash throughout the month of January. Gilreath says the crews work major roadways – like US-501, SC-544 and US-701 – that are funded by $330,000 of county and accommodations tax money.
“Our hope is the amount of trash will decrease,” he said. “If we can get more cooperation with the public and trash haulers and people keeping track out of the back of their pickup trucks, we [might] make that happen.”
While the county’s three new litter teams continue to make progress, News13 wanted to know how well the county is enforcing its litter laws. Gilreath says county police issued 72 citations for littering between July 2014 and January 2015.
Now, some community members and councilmen want to know how much the county has collected from those litter tickets.
“County council thinks there should be more, and we couldn’t agree with them more strongly,” Bo Ives, of Keep Horry County Beautiful, told News13 Thursday. “We think there needs to be eyes on the problem so it can be addressed. The next step is to look at the magistrate’s system to see how well they’re adjudicating those cases that are brought before them.”
Ives says he would like to see those caught sentenced to more community service.
“It’s really difficult when you go to court and prove a litter event. You basically need to have taped it to prove they did it, because its always ‘he said’ or ‘I wasn’t driving that day,’ even if you get a tag number,” Ives noted.
Crews check the major roadways for large pieces of debris each week and clean the roads at least once a month. Gilreath says the county will begin a new recycling system in the coming weeks with litter collected from Horry County roadways. Gilreath says that will help reduce costs and landfill space used.
