Area leaders plan to gauge litter problem with surveys

~ A staff member of Keep America Beautiful will train them as early as next month.

Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City officials and civic leaders soon will begin pinpointing litter problems in their communities with help from the national Keep America Beautiful organization.

A staff member from the Connecticut-based organization is scheduled to meet with local officials as early as next month. The staffer will train community leaders on how to fill out two Keep America Beautiful surveys that will gauge the litter and trash problems.

The first survey will look at the current state of solid waste in the area, including education, ordinances and enforcement. It also will look at such things as how many trash cans are in a city's downtown area and how often city streets are swept, said Becky Lyons, senior vice president of Keep America Beautiful.

The second survey is called a litter index. Affiliates are asked to conduct an annual survey to identify the extent of the litter problem.

At least 20 percent of the land area in the community or region should be inspected for litter, Lyons said.

The litter survey could look at streets, parks and even private land. "You might look at loading docks or parking lots," she said.

If a litter problem was found near loading docks, a local program could be developed to help clean up those areas, Lyons said.

Cape Girardeau County Auditor David Ludwig chairs the local effort. He said city and civic leaders will have access to educational literature and information on what other cities across the country have done to combat litter.

"There is no reason to reinvent the wheel," agreed Lyons. "There probably isn't anything that Cape Girardeau is facing that some other community hasn't already tackled."

Keep America Beautiful also offers an anti-litter curriculum geared for elementary school children. "It has lessons that deal with solid waste, graffiti, getting involved, cleaning up and beautification," Lyons said.

Founded in 1953, Keep America Beautiful has 560 member communities. Cape Girardeau will become the fifth Missouri affiliate. The others are Kansas City, Hannibal, Branson and St. Joseph.

The local area officially will become a member once the two surveys have been completed and submitted to the not-for-profit organization based in Stamford, Conn.

Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City, the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, the chamber's beautification committee, the Old Town Cape redevelopment organization, the Southeast Missourian and individuals have donated $4,000 to affiliate with Keep America Beautiful.

The group already has paid the initial membership fee of $3,600 and has $400 set aside for next year's renewal fee.

Once the litter and solid-waste surveys are done and once a structure is in place to run the program, Keep America Beautiful will return to train the board of directors.

Lyons said the national organization requires each affiliate group to have an annual budget. She said most of the Keep America Beautiful programs are funded in some way by local government.

Keep America Beautiful doesn't have a minimum spending requirement. "The program is what the community chooses to make of it," she said.

On the Net

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mbliss@semissourian.com

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