Big Sweep comes to Chapel Hill

N.C. Big Sweep, a coordinated litter cleanup event, is going local for the 17th year in a row.

The Oct. 2 event was first brought in to Chapel Hill in 1994, seven years after it started in North Carolina.

Cleanup now takes place in all 100 counties, said Judy Bolin, president and state director of the event.

“It’s a pretty major problem, not only being unsightly but it’s deadly to wildlife and a human health problem as well,” she said of littering.

This year, Wal-Mart donated funds that allowed the event’s organizers to buy more equipment for the volunteers.

Bolin said for the past three years, more than 18,000 people have participated statewide in the event, which costs more than $100,000 each year.

In 2009 more than 520,000 pounds of trash were collected in the state, she said.

“Five-hundred twenty thousand pounds of trash in perspective is over 1,200 5-feet-deep football fields,” said Bolin.

“That’s just that one four-hour period.”

Last year about 82 volunteers in Chapel Hill collected 620 pounds of litter, despite rainy weather, said Wendy Smith, the environmental education coordinator for the town’s storm water management division.

The year before, 210 participants collected 9,200 pounds of trash.

“We do find a lot more than what you’d expect, especially along roadsides,” said Terry Hackett, the Orange County storm water resource officer who coordinates the event in Hillsborough.

“That stuff gets washed into streams and rivers.”

Chapel Hill attempts to prevent litter through an ordinance that states trucks containing garbage must be covered with a tarp, Smith said.

She said cups, beverage bottles and cigarette butts are especially big problems in Chapel Hill.

“A lot of it comes from people who have been drinking,” she said.

Smith, who coordinates the event in Chapel Hill, said the majority of the work during the Big Sweep involves cleaning up after intentional dumping.

“The more awareness we can build, and the more that we can enforce anti-littering laws, the better off we’ll be,” Smith said.

She said typical participants in the event range from churches and environmental organizations to sororities and high school students. In some areas, there is a contest for the person who finds the most interesting piece of trash, she said.

Smith is aiming for at least 100 volunteers this year, she said.

Those interested who can’t make the date can participate on another day and will still be provided with equipment.

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