Meigs County ‘Road Warriors’ Cleaning Up County, Township Roads

POMEROY – “We are getting a reputation for being a little trashy.”

That is according to Steve Jenkins, program administrator for the Meigs Soil and Water Conservation District, who recently reported on the district’s litter projects for 2014.

The Meigs SWCD is the county agency tasked with assisting private landowners in protecting their soil and water resources, but like most conservation districts throughout the state, the district also takes on other functions. In the case of the Meigs SWCD, that includes administering a litter control program mostly focusing on roadside litter.

The Meigs County – Pick It Up! Program, administered by the Meigs Soil and Water Conservation District in partnership with the Meigs County Board of Commissioners and the Gallia-Jackson-Meigs-Vinton Solid Waste Management District, started on its second year on Jan. 2.

In 2014, workers cleaned alongside 430 miles of road, including all 256.5 miles of county road, and collected 1,828 bags of litter. In addition, the crew targeted six illegal dumpsites and picked up 690 tires. In the process, they also found two illicit meth labs, which they reported to the Meigs County Sheriff’s Office for disposal, Jenkins said.

The district’s involvement in litter control began in 2012 when it started administering the countywide recycling program. In 2012 and 2013, the program collected roughly 1.1 million pounds of recyclable material, representing 550 tons of material kept out of landfills. However, that program ended at the end of 2013 when the Solid Waste Management District awarded a contract to Rumpke to collect recycling in its four-county area.

The district also participated in two clean-up days in 2013 and 2014, in conjunction with the Meigs County Health Department and the Meigs County Grants Office, which together gathered almost 45 tons of tires, 27.8 tons of waste, and 11.2 tons of scrap metal. In addition, the district has coordinated more than a dozen Leading Creek Stream Sweeps and Ohio River Sweeps.

The Meigs County – Pick It Up! Program came to life in late 2013.

“We knew the recycling program was ending, and that was going to leave us with two part-time workers, a pickup truck and a trailer used to empty the recycling stations,” Jenkins said, adding that another district employee came up with the idea.

“The idea behind Meigs County – Pick It Up! came to me in the middle of the night,” said Jim Freeman, wildlife specialist for the Meigs SWCD. “I was thinking that we have the tools and the resources to directly reduce the amount of road-side litter, and that we just needed a plan to put all the pieces into action.”

What he envisioned was a three-part program, which he explained using a military analogy. The first part would be direct action, or “boots on the ground,” with a dedicated crew physically picking up litter. The second and third parts would be community assistance, or “force multipliers,” by assisting groups wanting to do their own cleanups, and finally “winning hearts and minds” by conducting educational programs through the district’s education coordinator, Jenny Ridenour, in area schools.

Freeman presented the idea to his co-workers, and then to the Meigs County Board of Commissioners, which in turn presented it to the Solid Waste District, which approved the project.

“We’re out in the county almost every day, and we know there is a problem with litter and illegal dump sites,” Freeman said. “With over 750 miles of township and county roads we understood just how big a task we faced, but we wanted this to be a county project, and more importantly it had to be effective.

“Shifting from recycling to litter control seemed like a natural and logical transition, and we as a district were already engaged in other litter projects including the Ohio River Sweep, the Leading Creek Stream Sweep, the Countywide Cleanup Day and the Adopt-A-Highway program.

“SWCDs are all about partnerships, so the County Engineer’s Office helped out by putting the new decals on our work truck. We also had workers assigned through the Department of Health and Human Services.

“In my office there is a laminated county map hanging on the wall, and throughout the year we highlighted all of the roads that our workers covered,” Freeman said. “The map is literally covered – every corner of the county, every township from north to south, and from east to west is represented. We actually do make it a point to spread the field, to cover the entire county.”

Today the program has three part-time employees.

Jenkins and Freeman both said that they have heard many positive comments about the program, and wish it were possible to do even more.

“The Meigs County Commission continues to be thrilled with the progress of the Pick it Up program,” said commission President Randy Smith. “These employees work hard seemingly to fight a constant battle.

“While it may seem to some that it’s not worth it because folks continue to litter, these employees continue to do what they can to make Meigs County beautiful in spite of the inconsideration of some and for that the commission and the citizens of the county are greatful.”

That brings up the second, as yet-underutilized portion of the program: to help groups do their own cleanup projects.

Jenkins stressed that this program is strictly for roadside litter on county and township roads and not for residential cleanup or cleanup along state highways.

Any group interested in doing their own cleanup as a community service project can call the Meigs SWCD office at 740-992-4282, weekdays between 8-4:30 p.m. to make arrangements. Meigs SWCD will supply bags, gloves, high-visibility vests and will collect the bags left along the road, while a group leader will be responsible for picking up supplies, coordinating the cleanup and keeping track of the location, number of volunteers, and the number of bags collected.

Other upcoming events in Meigs County include the 15th annual Leading Creek Stream Sweep, which will be held April 25, 9 a.m. to noon at the Meigs SWCD Conservation Area on New Lima Road between Rutland and Harrisonville.

The fourth Meigs County Clean-up Day will be held May 2, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Rock Springs Fairgrounds. In addition the annual Ohio River Sweep will be held June 20, 9 a.m. to noon.