Are you doing your part to keep public roads clean?
Despite 75% of Washington residents saying they never litter, nearly 31,000 pieces of litter can be found per acre on urban interchanges, according to the Washington Department of Ecology.
New funding is allowing the Department of Ecology to conduct a litter study through 2022, with results available in March. The study seeks to identify where litter comes from and what kind of litter is found on Washington roads, interchanges and public areas. The last comprehensive litter study was in 2004.
Washington spends over $9 million annually on crews from the Department of Ecology, the Department of Corrections and other agencies that pick up litter. In the first seven months of 2022, crews collected more than 1.6 million pounds of litter from state highways.
Fines for littering or illegal dumping range from $103 to $5,000, according to the Department of Ecology. Most litter comes from people who either toss it out of their car window or do not properly secure cargo. Out of the 816 tons of litter collected,11.5% came from homeless encampments.
According to the Department of Ecology, litter hurts wildlife and unsecured loads cause traffic crashes and fatalities.
Here are tips from the Department of Ecology on how to avoid littering: