Litterbugs, Coronavirus Collide On SW Riverside County Freeways

SOUTHWEST RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — The amount of litter gathering alongside Southwest Riverside County freeways and highways suggests a whole lot of people are OK with using the roadways as their personal garbage bin.

The unfortunate storm of litterbugs and coronavirus has the Southwest region looking pretty trashy.

COVID-19 Impact

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, it wasn't uncommon to see work release crews from the Riverside County Sheriff's Department picking up roadside trash in the Southwest region and elsewhere. That program, however, was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to Terri Kasinga, public and media affairs chief for Caltrans, District 8.

Collaboration between Caltrans, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and advocacy groups (to provide occupational mentoring and temporary employment to parolees and veterans in litter abatement) was also impacted by the coronavirus shutdown — as was litter removal by Caltrans crews.

As traffic began increasing with statewide coronavirus re-openings, however, so did trash accumulation along freeways and highways. In June, it was announced that Caltrans and the California Highway Patrol were partnering to resume cleanup of the state's littered roadways.

Local cleanup is happening, but it's slow and litterbugs outnumber crews.

"Caltrans crews are working now to remove litter in high volume trash areas on I-15 in Temecula, Murrieta, Wildomar, Menifee, Lake Elsinore and Corona," Kasinga said.

But the cleanup will take time, with Caltrans maintenance crews incorporating roadside litter pickup into their work schedules approximately two days a month. It will take "a month or two" before the Southwest Riverside County area looks cleaner, Kasinga estimated.

There is no word on when work release crews might resume trash pickup.

Personal Responsibility

Caltrans and other agencies have conducted anti-littering campaigns, but they often fall on deaf ears.

"People make split decisions to litter or they get lazy. Then it becomes an issue for a lifetime," Kasinga said. "All the campaigns in the world seem to not be working on folks in California. Education starts with children and then maybe saying something when people see others litter. Caltrans is doing its best with the resources we have available to try and keep up with it — but everyone needs to pitch in to see a change."

The CHP enforces California's anti-littering laws, ticketing motorists who litter or drive with unsecured cargo loads. Last year, the CHP issued more than 3,100 citations statewide for littering, and roughly one-third of those violations involved a lit cigarette, according to Caltrans.

"Not only is littering illegal, but there can be devastating consequences resulting from these senseless actions," said CHP Commissioner Warren Stanley. "A lit cigarette carelessly tossed from a window can start a brush fire, an unsecured cargo load can result in a collision, and the safety of a highway worker cleaning up the mess is at great risk."

Caltrans collected 287,000 cubic yards of roadside litter in 2019 alone — enough to fill 18,000 garbage trucks, the agency said. Of that total, 35 percent of the cleanup was from the agency's community volunteer programs.

The Adopt-A-Highway program provides an opportunity for individuals, organizations and businesses to help maintain sections of the state highways. Since its start in 1989, Adopt-a Highway volunteers have removed litter from more than 15,000 miles of roadway shoulders and helped maintain 36 acres of wildflowers, 1,540 acres of vegetation management, and 111 acres of tree planting, according to Caltrans.

Caltrans Director Toks Omishakin said in June that cleaning up litter is not just the responsibility of a government agency. "Litter increases the risk of fire, pollutes our waterways, threatens wildlife and costs taxpayers millions of dollars to remove. We ask all Californians to be part of the solution, dispose of trash responsibly and secure cargo loads before getting on the road."