Out the Window
by Jen Rittenhouse
Cruising Interstate 5 in his pale yellow 1980 Volkswagen Vanagon, Western senior Ken McAllister admits to littering a time or two.
"I have littered in the past," McAllister said. "I don’t anymore, though. Well, I might if I’m in Seattle. It doesn’t make a difference though, it’s filthy down there."
McAllister said he is an avid outdoorsman and a student of nature so he doesn’t litter when he is fishing or out in the woods. Yet, he said he has favorite towns in which he enjoys littering.
McAllister said he and his friends make a sport out of littering in these areas.
"One time I was driving down the road, just a little north of Seattle, finishing a chocolate milkshake from a local drive through," McAllister said. "It’s drive-by littering at its finest. When we came up on a road sign we threw the cup and when you hit the sign you are the ultimate litterer."
Left-over food containers are among the litter scattered along the sides of I-5. To deal with the litter, the Washington State Department of Transportation organized Adopt-a-Highway, a volunteer program in which individuals or groups commit to cleaning up litter along two-mile stretches of highway twice a year. In return for the service, WSDOT places a sign along the highway with the group’s name and provides the volunteers with training and safety equipment.
According to the Washington State Department of Ecology, combined cleanup
efforts in 2001 picked up 2,405,100 pounds of litter along 5,861 miles
of roadway in Whatcom, Skagit, Island, San Juan, Snohomish, King and Kitsap
counties.
WSDOT contributes the majority of litter cleanup success to its Adopt-a-Highway
Program. Statewide, 14,050 groups participate in the program, which began
in 1990.
Fairhaven Bike and Mountain Sports adopted a two-mile stretch of Chuckanut Drive eight miles from I-5. Employee Kris Borgias, who lives near the stretch of road in Skagit County, said the group has participated in the program for about five years.
Cleaning up the side of the road isn’t an easy job, Borgias said.
"Ditches make it hard," Borgias said. "When I do it I get kind of obsessive and get down in the ditches. A lot of stuff you don’t see until you get down there."
Ray Willard, Washington state Adopt-a-Highway program manager and coordinator, receives reports from the groups about their cleanup activity.
"Something that has really become a problem and is increasing in numbers are what we call ‘trucker bottles,’" Willard said. "It’s really gross, but if a trucker has to go to the bathroom and doesn’t want to stop they will go in a bottle and just throw it out the window."
Washington State Patrol is also working to prevent litter by enforcing stricter litter laws on the state highways. As of July 27, 2003, littering an amount greater than a cubic foot is considered a misdemeanor and can cost the litterer up to $1,000 and 90 days in jail. Littering burning material, such as cigarette butts, can cost up to $1,025.
Last year Ecology, Adopt-a-Highway and the Department of Corrections cleanup efforts collected 60,000 pounds of cigarette butts, Willard said.
Litter cleanup efforts are not cheap, Willard said.
"It costs $1.25 million per year statewide," Willard said.
"This includes all litter control costs."
McAllister said he is aware of the costs of litter control.
"It gives people something to do," McAllister said. "I
used to enjoy litter because it gave me something to do. I worked for
public works for six months. We used to go on trash duty. It was basically
milking the government clock."
Borgias said he felt involving the immediate community gave the program
a face to put with the cleanup effort, hopefully making future litterers
more conscious of the work
While he respects the beauty of the outdoors, McAllister said he doesn’t see beauty in overpopulated places where environmental damage has occurred for years.
"There are two different kinds of worlds: urbanization and places that haven’t been desecrated by the effects and drudgeries of urban sprawl," McAllister said. "I like to think of myself as an environmentalist, I really do. I am a spokesman for the environmentalist cause. I like to promote the preservation of natural environments that haven’t already been raped and pillaged by the evil hand of man."
Borgias said he is familiar with that kind of thinking, but is more in favor of torching Hummers as a social statement than littering.
"It’s whether you have any respect for the human race whether you buy into that or not," Borgias said. "I can’t see littering in a city. Those folks may be ignorant and stewing in their own juices as they ruin the environment, but why make it worse?"
