An advisory group assembled by a City Councilor in Springfield, Massachusetts to study the pervasive litter problem and come up with solutions has issued a final report with a dozen recommendations.
After three months of study, the ad-hoc committee concluded that one person needs to be in charge of keeping Springfield clean.
Topping the list of recommendations in the groups final report is the hiring of a “Director of Litter Control.” This person, who would report directly to the mayor, would be responsible for coordinating the work of other city departments and agencies including DPW, Parks, Code Enforcement, and the Police Department’s Ordinance Squad, explained Erica Swallow, the Forest Park neighborhood resident who chaired the committee.
“Clean up happens across a number of departments,” Swallow said. “The Parks Department focuses on the grassy places. DPW focuses on the streets. Dog waste is under the Department of Health and Human Services because it is a biohazard.”
There is a focus on prevention in the final report. It calls for a sustained anti-litter media campaign, distributing educational materials to property owners, and endorsing an anti-litter curriculum in the Springfield Public Schools beginning with kindergarten.
“We would love to see a full K-12 on-going curriculum presented to the city so that all residents, and especially parents will understand exactly what that entails,” Swallow said.
Litter is “egregious” in high-pedestrian areas, the committee wrote. So, it recommends the city install trash cans along busy arteries and get the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority to put trash cans at bus stops.
The rest of the recommendations are mostly tweaks to existing programs such as street sweeping, residential bulk waste disposal, and the Clean Sweep Initiative. The report urges improvements to how the 311 call center handles litter complaints. It suggests lobbying local state legislators in an effort to get MassDOT to do a better job picking up litter along the state highways that run through the city.
There is no price tag attached to implement all the recommendations. The proposed litter director would need a salary – and a staff, according to the committee. Additionally, the report calls for increasing the Parks Department budget by $400,000 annually so it can maintain all 175 of the city’s terraces.
Ward 6 City Councilor Victor Davila convened the working group with the goal of addressing the litter problem in the Forest Park neighborhood, which he said could serve as a pilot for taking the report’s recommendations citywide.
“It is my hope and I completely see this (report) as a blueprint for the city as well,” Davila said.
Prior to making the report public, Davila and Swallow briefed Mayor Domenic Sarno on the recommendations.
“And I am also happy to report that we have buy-in from the city,” Davila said.
In addition to buy-in from the administration, Davila said there has to be community buy-in.
“In order for this program to be successful, we must have the cooperation of the residents and the businesses,” Davila said at a press conference where the report was released.
Sarno, in a statement, congratulated the committee for its work. He said developing an anti-litter curriculum in the public schools is an example of a recommendation that is already being implemented.
