Kentucky Transportation Cabinet officials announced Friday that the annual fall cleanup along the state’s roadways will be next week.

State officials reported that each year, transportation cabinet employees and contractors spend 200,000 hours collecting approximately 96,000 bags of litter along state highways.

That’s a sad figure.

Clean ups like this are vital to keeping the Commonwealth clean and protecting our environment and resources.

Litter along roadways is not only unsightly, but it can be dangerous. Winds or rains could easily pull litter onto the roadway (if it wasn’t already there to begin with) and could cause traffic hazards and accidents.

To assist those efforts, the cabinet established the Adopt-a-Highway program decades ago.

Now, Kentucky’s Adopt-a-Highway program has nearly 700 groups and volunteers. They remove thousands of bags of litter from about 1,400 miles of roadside. Any group can adopt a two-mile stretch of highway for two years.

While we commend these groups and volunteers, it is time for the citizens of Kentucky to take better care of our beautiful state.

Prevention is key in this situation.

There are hundreds of events, thousands of hours and tens of thousands of pounds of litter collected from Kentucky roadways, waterways, parks and other areas each year.

Prevention, in this case, is simple. Don’t litter. And if you see litter, take a few moments to pick it up.

If we each would make more effort to prevent this litter from ending up anywhere but a garbage can, recycling bin or other receptacles for trash, we could prevent so much time and effort being required for these cleanup efforts.

That time and effort could be devoted to other important causes.

 

Editorials represent the opinion of the newspaper’s editorial board. The board is comprised of publisher Michael Caldwell and managing editor Whitney Leggett. To inquire about a meeting with the board, contact Caldwell at 759-0095.