Mount Vernon Council Pushes Anti-Litter Plan
The goal is to make cleanups unnecessary.
An earlier pick up of Little Hunting Creek included shopping carts taken from the creek bed.
Courtesy Scott Surovell
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There’s literally too much litter in Mount Vernon, say leaders of the Mount Vernon Council of Citizen Associations, and the county should adopt the Citizens’ Action Plan for Litter Prevention.
At the initiative of the Council’s Environment and Recreation Committee, chaired by Elizabeth (Betsy) Martin, MVCCA is advocating a comprehensive strategy to combat litter and is asking the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to act.
The key components of the anti-litter plan are these:
- implement recycling in the public schools and encourage environmental stewardship among students;
- require all business to recycle cans, bottles, paper and cardboard;
- adopt a litter control ordinance;
- conduct anti-litter public information campaigns;
- stiffen enforcement of anti-littering laws;
- require litter receptacles in all public places;
- require recycling at all county events, including requiring users of parks and school properties to remove all trash.
In addition, MVCCA asks that the Board of Supervisors include in its 2013
legislative requests to the Virginia General Assembly additional measures:
- a ban on polystyrene and require biodegradable packing for carry-out food;
- a beverage container deposit law;
- a fee on single-use plastic and paper shopping bags or authorize localities to impose one;
- an increase in the litter tax (which has been $25 since 1987) and use the proceeds to fund litter prevention, cleanups and outreach.
MVCCA passed a resolution in October 2011, maintaining that litter degrades property values, the environment and “creates the impression that Mount Vernon residents care neither about the environment nor their community.” Volunteers who have for years helped with cleanups “would like to make cleanups unnecessary,” MVCCA representatives argue.
The resolution cites a survey by the Alice Ferguson Foundation of households in the Potomac River watershed which found that almost two-thirds of respondents are bothered “a lot” by litter and believe that the litter problem is “big enough that [they] would like to see the state and local government commit more resources to doing something about it.”
Martin organizes trash cleanups in Little Hunting Creek every spring and hauls out thousands of plastic bottles, fast food debris, grocery carts, balls, shoes and endless odds and ends.
MVCCA is pushing the Board of Supervisors and state legislators to act.
Steve Chaconas
9:42 am on Wednesday, January 2, 2013
It appears that the grocery carts (pictured) are a huge water quality issue as they are finding their way into waterways. The carts act as sieves to collect trash and become almost anchored to creek bottoms, leaching their contents into the water. They are very difficult to remove and become semi permanent! Fines and other penalties including reimbursement for removal need to be levied on not only those found dumping these hazards, but also the businesses responsible for allowing these carts to "escape".
Kevin O'Rourke
11:49 pm on Monday, January 7, 2013
I was surprised to see a shopping cart sitting poised to dive into the creek on Keeler St near Pole one day, and gave it a ride to Safeway. That's 1-1/4 miles away....a long ways for a cart to travel and be left alone. I think restricted carts (ones that can only travel so far before their wheels lock up) would be good to impose on shopping centers (carts), if cost effective.
Jody
11:09 am on Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Education, more trash cans in public parks and public spaces, increased enforcement of existing litter laws, and increased fines for littering all sound good. But why are recycling requirements lumped in that would have no effect on litter. In addition to the upfront cost to consumers, won't a bottle deposit law cost the county money to implement a reimbursement plan when those bottles are turned in for recycling? I see many drivers throwing cigarette butts out their windows, especially when parked at stoplights. Our intersections are clogged with these disgusting butts. Are police statistics available for litter citations and the nature of the offense? I'm just hoping that any new costs will really be covered by new fines or will still be affordable.
T Ailshire
1:57 pm on Wednesday, January 2, 2013
As proposed, many of these are irrelevant or economically ridiculous.
implement recycling in the public schools and encourage environmental stewardship among students
WHAT MAKES ANYONE THINK IF YOU CAN'T GET SOMETHING INTO THE TRASH CAN, YOU'LL GET IT IN TO THE RECYCLE BIN? Irrelevancy.
require all business to recycle cans, bottles, paper and cardboard;
adopt a litter control ordinance;
WHO WILL PAY FOR IT? Economics
conduct anti-litter public information campaigns;
WHO WILL PAY FOR IT? Economics
stiffen enforcement of anti-littering laws;
require litter receptacles in all public places;
WHO WILL PAY FOR THEM? AND TO EMPTY THEM? Economics.
require recycling at all county events, including requiring users of parks and school properties to remove all trash.
IF YOU CAN'T THROW THINGS IN THE TRASH CAN, YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO THROW THEM IN A RECYCLING BIN. Irrelevancy.
a ban on polystyrene and require biodegradable packing for carry-out food;
a beverage container deposit law;
THUS INCREASING PACKAGING COSTS. Economics
a fee on single-use plastic and paper shopping bags or authorize localities to impose one;
INCLUDING ON THOSE WHO DO NOT LITTER. Punish the good guy.
an increase in the litter tax (which has been $25 since 1987) and use the proceeds to fund litter prevention, cleanups and outreach.
WHO'S GOING TO ENFORCE IT?
capitol5555
5:23 pm on Thursday, January 3, 2013
T Ashire, I totally agree with your observations and comments. The recommendations set forth by the MVCC are way too extreme!
Dusty
11:46 am on Friday, January 4, 2013
For those asking who will pay for it...
HIGHER PROPERTY VALUES, BECUSE THE AREA WON'T LOOK SO GHETTO.
It's simple.
T Ailshire
1:04 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
Ah, the rest of us. The ones who don't litter. Who simply live here. Thanks.
Greg Crider
9:14 am on Tuesday, January 8, 2013
A neighbor saw two teenagers (one pushing the other in a shopping cart) along Collingwood Road near Williamsburg Manor Neighborhood Park. The abandoned cart was found the next day, and I returned it to Michael's in Mount Vernon Plaza on Richmond Highway about 2 miles away. I recommend confronting the people taking shopping carts and/or call the police at the non-emergency number 703-691-2131.