Our Opinion: Clean-up Efforts Have Lasting Impact For Communities

First impressions matter. From a job interview to a social gathering, the first few moments of a new encounter with someone can go a long way to forming a lasting memory – positively or negatively. The same applies for our communities. When visitors drive through your city for the first time, the things they see in those moments can define their impression of your hometown for decades to come. And like it or not, one of the easiest things that can be off-putting for a visitor is trash and debris along the roads. City leaders can spend thousands on landscape architecture projects and wayfinding signs only to have all those efforts diminished by unnecessary litter throughout the medians and greenspaces in our communities. It’s an unfortunate reality that can have a serious negative impact for visitors and residents alike. While it’s unlikely that a permanent solution can be put in place to eliminate all litter from appearing on our roads, there are efforts that can be taken in each community to pick up behind those who cause these issues. In Itawamaba County, for example, a countywide cleanup event organized by Keep Itawamba Beautiful earlier this month saw participants picking up and bagging more than four-and-a-half tons of roadside trash.