ROCKINGHAM — The amount of trash picked up from Richmond County roadsides in nine months has already exceeded last year’s total.
According to monthly reports from the Solid Waste Department, county workers have collected 78.39 tons of garbage from local roads from January through September — 14.74 tons more than in all of 2022.
Clean-up collections have exceeded nine tons in four months — January, March, April and August, with the latter topping the graph at 10.87 tons.
The reports, which contain weight totals of litter picked up by both county employees and state workers with the N.C. Department of Transportation, have recently been reformatted, showing the roads that were cleaned and how many bags came from each road.
In August, there were 381 bags from 41 roads. Of those, workers picked up 42 bags, four tires and a door from Bear Branch Road, and collected 36 bags from McIntyre Road and 32 bags from Mill Road.
Of the 339 bags from 31 roads in September, 67 came from Mill Road, 29 from Sandhill Road and 23 from Battley Dairy Road.
There were also 229 bags picked up in June and 325 in July.
But it’s not just general bottles, cans and fast food bags workers are finding along the roads.
The latest reports also include larger items that have been picked up.
The August report shows workers cleared:
- Carpet and treadmill from Old Cheraw Highway
- Couch from Mary Wall Road
- Carpet and pallets from Hamer Mill Road
- Mattress from N.C. 177 and Biltmore Drive
- Hardshell camper parts from Bill Nicholson Road
- Box spring from U.S. 220
- Couch from Battley Dairy Road
In September, workers removed two couches from Sandhill Road, a couch and mattress from Freeman Mill Road, and a rug from Lassiter Road.
Twenty tires have also been removed from 13 roads in the past two months.
In addition, the county investigated reports of 13 illegal dump sites from June-September and issued four warnings.
