Chambers County Litter Campaign cleans up
BY KADIE VICK
THE LAFAYETTE SUN
CHAMBERS COUNTY —The Chambers County Commission’s Litter Campaign supports local volunteers and a cleaner community with this service opportunity.
District Four Commissioner Sam Bradford started the program after attending the 2022 Association of County Commissioners of Alabama and having his idea funded by the Chambers County Commission.
“You hear people complain about litter, and as I’m rolling things through my mind about what my project would do, it was just obvious to me that this was something that would work,” he said. “I keep in mind, none of this would happen if the commission had not funded it…. The groups are picking up paper and litter because the commission is giving them money that they have worked and earned.”
The Litter Campaign pays different local groups to clean up litter by the mile within Chambers County and helps nonprofits and volunteers raise money for their mission while cleaning the community.
“The way it works is any school group, school itself, club or a team, church group, youth group, Sunday school class, city organizations, non-profit organizations and public organizations are eligible to pick up,” Bradford said. “For every mile that a group picks up, they get $250 and most of the time, everybody takes two miles, and so they pick up two miles, they get $500 and that money comes from the Chambers County Commission.”
Bradford said everything for the volunteers to pick up litter is provided by the Commission, and volunteers must follow the safety guidelines.
“We have supply bags,” he said. “Those bags consist of safety vests. Everybody on the side road has to wear a safety vest. We have trash bags supplied, and the Commission buys those vests. Alabama PALS provides the trash bags, and the Commission buys gloves for individuals to wear. So after the groups email me that they want to participate, I give them the guidelines about wearing vests and all this type of stuff and they pick their own date.”
When choosing their date, Bradford said it must be in the same fiscal year that they signed up, and they can send photo proof of their work to show the difference they have made in the community.
“The date doesn’t matter,” he said. “It just has to be done within the fiscal year, because that’s the way the money is budgeted. And the groups pick up the trash, they just leave it on the side of the road. They put the vest the on bags they picked up alongside the road. And then the groups have to send a picture of the trash, all the bags that were picked up, to me, and then turn and send those pictures to the county manager, Virginia Chambers, because that’s proof that they have done the work.”
One of the big benefits of the Litter Campaign, Bradford said, is that the money that would be spent on contract workers or employees to clean up litter can go to local organizations looking for fundraising opportunities.
“They are doing work, and we pay them to do that,” he said. “It also gives these groups ways to make money. If they get enough people, if they’ve got 20 people out there, and they can pick up two miles and probably three hours and get $500, if they’ve got enough people to help, which is a good little fundraiser.”
Bradford said last year, the volunteers of the Litter Campaign cleaned up a total of around 33 miles of litter. To contact Bradford to volunteer, email samuel.bradford@chamberscountyal.gov.
“I think the proof’s in the pudding,” he said. “It’s certainly not eliminating it by 100% and I would never say that, but as you travel the roads, you see roads that have a lot of litter, and it is significantly reduced. I mean, this is not a cure-all. It’s sort of like fire ants. You’re not going to get rid of it, but you try to control it and you try to set an example.”
