(Conservation Currents,
Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District, October
2004)
While Fairfax County wages war against mosquitoes
in its “Fight the Bite” campaign, the folks in Wake
County, North Carolina, are engaged in a different battle. Promoted
by Wake County Keep America Beautiful, “Fight the Blight”
targets litter and graffiti.
As part of the promotion, Litter Bug Exterminator
Kits are available to all Wake County residents. A few of the
items in the kit are a car litter bag, pocket ashtray, litter
law fact sheet, key chain, and Swat-A-Litterbug cards.
The Swat-A-Litterbug program is sponsored by the North Carolina
Department of Transportation (NCDOT). The way the program works
is simple. If you witness a single act of littering, such as
someone throwing a cigarette butt out of the window of his or
her vehicle, you note the license plate number as well as the
date, time, and location of the littering.
Then you report the litter violation, anonymously, in one of
three ways.
- Fill out and mail a Swat-A-Litterbug report card to NCDOT
- Call NCDOT’s toll-free number (1-877-dot-4you)
- Go online at www.ncdot.org/~beautification.
In 1990 we did, according to Alan Lassiter, who manages the
Waste Tire Management, Litter and Recycling Program for the
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). It was called
RAV for Report a Vehicle. People could anonymously report litterers,
and DEQ would send out a warning notice.
Lassiter says the program was terminated for two reasons. First,
because the submissions were made anonymously, the person reporting
the violation never knew what, if anything, happened. Second,
and more importantly, there were serious errors in the reporting.
Either deliberately or mistakenly, licenses were recorded and
reported incorrectly. Some of the “victims” complained
all the way up to the governor’s office. At that point,
the governor terminated the program.
Today, even if DEQ wanted to reinstate the program, there would
be no funding for it, says Lassiter.
George Kapetanakis is with NCDOT’s Office of Beautification
Programs. “We look at this program in a different light,”
said Kapetanakis. “The purpose of the program is to educate
and inform,” Kapetanakis explains. “Even if a person
wasn’t the offender, sending a letter to him or her does
more good than harm. There is no threat, and there is no record
kept of the offender’s name, address, or license plate.”
In fact, the notification letter that is signed by the commander
of the Highway Patrol apologizes up front for any mistaken identity.
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