A haunting Halloween update: Maintenance crews, partners and volunteers remove 2,000 tons of litter along state highways

By Tina Werner

Cue the Monster Mash playlist. The results from litter collected this past spring and summer are eerie. And we aren’t just talking about leftover creepy white hockey masks, either.  

Our road crews, other agency partners and Adopt-A-Highway volunteers from across the state have collected enough trash and debris from state highways, shoulders and interchanges equivalent to the weight of 110 MILLION(!!!) medium sized jack-o-lanterns – or 2,000 tons, to be exact. This recent litter count tracks the volume of trash collected from January 1 to August 31 of this year, and includes trash removed along roadsides by our highway maintenance crews, bags collected by Adopt-a-Highway, Department of Ecology Adult & Youth Corps and Department of Corrections crews, as well as items cleared near or from encampments.

Volunteers with Bellevue Green and Clean showcase a day full of hard work bagging trash along the shoulders of I-405

That number is only expected to increase as partners and volunteers clean their remaining sections before the winter season sets in. Generally, our maintenance crews – we don’t have and are not funded for specific clean-up crews – shift responsibilities during the colder months to winter storm response.

All Halloween jokes aside, roadside litter is an ongoing problem that is unsightly, distracts from the beauty of our state and can pose safety and environmental concerns. We all have a part to play in keeping our state beautiful and litter free.

Crews collect bagged trash and random litter dumped along I-90
near Keechelus Lake this summer

Addressing the problem requires partnerships with many agencies and organizations – and the traveling public also have an important role to play – by stopping litter from reaching roads in the first place. Combined, our agency and the Department of Ecology spend millions of dollars annually on litter cleanup. In 2021 and 2022, our two agencies spent about $12 million each year on litter cleanup and dumping fees. Yet despite these efforts and funds, crews can still only pick up a small fraction of what ends up on the ground. That means preventing litter is essential.

We are seeing a rise in litter being collected across our state over the past six years – in fact, it’s more than tripled since 2018 when we began tracking everyone’s total litter weight. Here is a breakdown of the amount of litter per-year tracked by our highway maintenance crews.

• 2018 – 698 tons
• 2019 – 557 tons
• 2020 – 400 tons
• 2021 – 618 tons
• 2022 – 1,403 tons
• 2023 – 1,991 tons* - January through August 2023

2018 data doesn’t include litter collected near encampments, which wasn’t available until 2019. For 2020 and 2021, most groups and partners paused work due to pandemic restrictions.

Our ask is simple. We need the public to:

• Properly cover and tie down all loads, on all trips. Unsecured vehicle loads cause more than 300 traffic crashes and up to 40% of roadside litter annually in our state. We can change that by securing our loads on every trip – even if your plans include a quick trip across town.

• Hold on to trash from your travels until you reach your destination or a waste receptacle. It may not seem like a big deal to toss the occasional bag or bottle on the ground, but those decisions add up to millions of pounds of litter (and millions of dollars of clean up) every year.
• Do not dump it at safety rest areas, parking lots, park and rides or other land. Illegal dumping requires additional staff and resources to clean these areas and take discarded items to landfills – while taking our highway maintenance crews away from other important tasks like guardrail or pothole repairs.
• Share litter prevention messages with friends and family. According to 2021 research commissioned by the Department of Ecology, about 26% of litterers say they would be motivated to stop if “a friend, family member, or passenger asked me to refrain.”
• Consider creating an Adopt-a-Highway group to join the valuable volunteers who help clear roadsides and other rights of way. Contact one of our coordinators to see if an available 2-mile stretch of highway near you is open for adoption.

Volunteers with “Old Studs Bicycle Group” collect trash along SR 225 near Richland in October

Litter from unsecured loads and encampments

Most of the trash along our highway and rights of way come from unsecured loads and items that are thrown (intentionally or not) from moving vehicles. Also, illegal dumping is a concern – and we need people to not leave their broken refrigerator or mattress along the highway or park and ride lot. While we do collect trash from locations of people living homeless along our rights of way after it has been posted for clearing and social services and housing accommodations have been provided, we do track litter removal data from those locations as well. While the litter from encampments is significant, the majority of trash collected each year are from interchanges, on- and off-ramp and mainline shoulders due to unsecured loads or illegal dumping.

Make a difference in your community – become an Adopt-A-Highway volunteer

As mentioned, we don’t have regular, dedicated litter crews – nor the funding to create them – which is why our partnerships with other agencies, communities and the public are so important. We continue to support the ongoing efforts of our volunteers participating in the Adopt-A-Highway litter removal program. The program is a valuable tool aimed at keeping the state’s roads clean and safe while allowing individuals or groups to “adopt” a section of highway by agreeing to take care of it for a two-year period. Most volunteers take great pride in their service and efforts to keep our state litter free. Hundreds of groups are active statewide, but we are always looking for more volunteers to be part of the program.  Groups that contract for cleanup receive roadside appreciation signs within their adopted area, with their name and logo. Adopt-A-Highway signs are not considered advertisements, based on Federal Highway Administration directives – and as such are only allowed to include a name and logo.

East County Citizen Alliance volunteers collect litter along SR 14 near Washougal this past summer

A spooky fine could await if you litter

Littering and illegal dumping can carry fines from $103 to $5,000, with many cities and counties having local ordinances that are stricter than the state law. We don’t have enforcement for any violations on roads – that rests with the Washington State Patrol, local police departments, sheriff's offices and health departments. Under state law, litter infractions and fines require the violation being witnessed by a sworn law officer; they cannot be issued based on reports given to or witnessed by our staff or volunteers. So it’s tough to catch littering in the act, which, again, is why we need people to take it upon themselves to, well, not litter.

A local Adopt-A-Highway volunteer group after collecting trash along I-405 in October

We all have a part to play in keeping Washington litter-free

While the sheer amount of litter collected this year is shocking, the good news is that we all can do something about it – by preventing litter from reaching the ground in the first place and encouraging friends and family to not litter. Preventing litter from reaching the ground is far more effective and less expensive than the cost of cleaning it up. Thank you for continuing to secure your loads (even if just across town) and hold onto your trash until you reach an appropriate waste receptacle. Let’s keep our Evergreen State beautiful for generations to come for everyone.