Column: Aiken County is making progress on combatting litter

Litter.

Unfortunately, it’s something we have to deal with on a regular basis in Aiken County.

I wrote about growth a few weeks ago, and mentioned that there were unintended consequences that came with development. Litter is one of them.

Fortunately, we have a few groups in Aiken who are dedicated to making our area better through litter removal. Chief among them is Keep Aiken County Beautiful, which is led by Kandace Cave. There’s also Clean Up Aiken! and Eyes on Aiken.

Litter and the efforts to combat it are frequent topics in our community, and Cave was kind enough to accept my invitation to speak at our most recent Kiwanis Club meeting.

If you’re like me and grew up in the 1970s, you probably remember the famous — now some say infamous — ad campaign featuring the Native American who was reduced to tears because of the rampant pollution and littering taking place in the U.S. in the early 1970s.

It was an effective ad campaign that got the message across for Keep America Beautiful. The main problem was that Iron Eyes Cody wasn’t a Native American; he was an Italian-American who made a career in Hollywood out of similar portrayals.

The “Crying Indian” campaign is no more, but Cave said efforts to keep our country — and our county — beautiful are still plentiful.

First, some of the numbers she shared are eye-popping. Aiken County has more than 5,500 roads, and it is the fourth largest county by land in South Carolina.

At 1,071 square miles, Aiken County is 28 square miles larger than Rhode Island. (That’s something I learned in elementary school.)

And Aiken County’s population is more than 172,000, Cave said. That’s a lot of potential litterbugs.

Keep Aiken County Beautiful conducts an annual community appearance survey — 80 roads throughout the county, 10 for each county council district — to come up with a score. The scale is from 1 (minimal or no litter) to 4 (extremely littered).

According to the KACB website, it looks like there’s been improvement in Aiken’s litter score since it was first done in 2019. Most scores were under 2 (slightly littered) in the 2022 survey.

Cave also spoke about the correlation between litter and unkempt appearances with crime. If you see littering, illegal dumping and graffiti, you probably think no one cares. She mentioned the “broken windows theory,” which essentially states that “visible signs of crime, antisocial behavior and civil disorder create an urban environment that encourages further crime and disorder, including serious crimes.”

So it’s important to keep our area neat and clean. Her group helps with community education, public awareness, supporting litter enforcement efforts and organizing and supporting community cleanups.

One recent success story is Shiloh Heights, which was in need of a new neighborhood sign. Cave helped direct them to resources that were available, and now a beautiful new sign with fresh plantings underneath is visible on the Northside of Aiken.

We’ve come a long way since Lou Holtz made this quip about the Palmetto State when he took over as the Gamecocks’ football coach in 1999:

“They must have the cleanest cars in the country because all the trash is on the outside,” Holtz told a reporter.

Ouch.

But you can make a difference, and get paid for it. Cave said there is a hotline — 803-502-7867 — to report littering in action. If you witness a person littering from a vehicle or litter falling from a moving vehicle, please make a report.

Thanks for reading.