Every litter bit (picked up) helps

Posted: July 3, 2008

You may have noticed that the City of Port St. Lucie has gotten a lot cleaner in the last year. A recent city-wide litter survey conducted by the Public Works Department revealed a dramatic 40 percent drop off in the amount of litter.

The Port St. Lucie City Council has targeted litter reduction as a priority, and city officials attribute the reduction to a number of initiatives and programs administered in conjunction with the Keep Port St. Lucie Beautiful Committee. Here’s a brief overview of some of the programs that are helping make Port St. Lucie more beautiful:

Adopt-A-Street Program

Currently, more than 50 miles of city streets are litter free thanks to over 67 groups, comprised of 513 volunteers, who have adopted public roadways to collect litter at least once every three months. So far this year, adopt-a-street volunteers have logged 595 hours and collected 406 bags of litter from city streets.

Litter Hotline

Launched last year, the litter hotline (772 871-7000) allows citizens to report construction debris, commercial or residential litter and even motorist’s littering from a vehicle. On average the city receives 50 calls a month from citizens reporting litter thrown from cars, illegal dumping, debris in canal and general litter conditions. The litter hotline also allows other city departments, such as code enforcement and environmental services to report litter conditions with a minimum of red tape.

Litter Crew

Last year, the City Council approved the hiring of two contract employees, whose salaries are paid for out of Keep Port St. Lucie Beautiful franchise fee funds, which are generated from the franchise fee on all Waste Pro garbage bills. This two-person crew is dedicated solely to picking up litter and addresses many of the litter conditions reported through the litter hotline. They can also be seen operating the city’s "litter picker" machine, which can clear up to eight acres per hour.

Household Hazardous Waste Collection Days

Held twice a year at the city’s Public Works complex at 450 Thornhill Drive, this event makes it easy for residents to get rid of their unwanted household chemicals and hazardous waste by providing a convenient place and time where the materials can be handed over to experts—free of charge—for proper disposal.

The next Household Hazardous Waste Day is scheduled for July 26 from 8 a.m. to noon.

Educating our Children

As part of its ongoing effort to raise environmental awareness, the Keep Port St. Lucie Beautiful Committee funded the distribution of 31,000 educational environmental supplements to Port St. Lucie school children, grades K-6. This project was made possible through a partnership with the Scripps Newspapers In Education Program. The supplements are filled with fun facts related to conserving water, stopping littering and pollution, reducing waste, protecting wildlife, recycling and much more.

Annual Keep Port St. Lucie Beautiful Clean-up Day

Held yearly in April to coincide with national Earth Day celebrations, this event has become a tradition in Port St. Lucie, attracting several hundred people every year who want to make an effort to reduce litter in public areas and improve the natural environment of the city. Volunteers are transported from the Public Works compound to various public areas for clean-up.

St. Lucie County Sheriff Inmate Litter Removal

One day a month for approximately six hours the St. Lucie County Sheriff provides non-violent inmates to the city who are tasked to clean up litter in pre-designated nonresidential areas.

Of course, the substantial reduction in litter this year would not have been possible without the cooperation and enthusiasm of our citizens, whether through their participation in the programs listed above, or through their own personal efforts at litter reduction. We encourage all of you to stay active in the fight against litter so we can “Keep Port St. Lucie Beautiful.”

For more information, contact:
Carmen Capezzuto
Keep Port St. Lucie Beautiful Committee Coordinator
City of Port St. Lucie
(772) 871-5148 or (772) 873-6312