Franklin County Continues Efforts to Build Effective Anti-Litter Program

Franklin County continues to work on the best way to keep the county roads and highways free of litter and other trash.

County manager Derrick Turner has been working to find a cost-effective solution since last spring.

At their work session this week, County Commission Chair Jason Macomson gave an overview of what the County has been working on.

Macomson said one of the initiatives the County has already instituted is a bi=annual dump day where citizens can bring their trash to the landfill without having to pay a fee.

As for efforts to establish a Keep Franklin County Beautiful chapter Turner said his office has had a slight setback but they’re still working on establishing that program and focusing on community involvement.

“Our original volunteer for Keep Franklin County Beautiful dropped out but we’re still trying to build a group that’s sustainable,” he said. “Once we have that and have a good understanding of what we can do there are things that the County can partner with in forming that organization and get more community involvement and buy-in from everybody.”

The County had also considered hiring a third-party vendor from Gainesville to pick up roadside trash but Turner said that proved to not be cost-effective.

“If we don’t have an all-around plan, it’s really just us picking up trash that will come back the next day,” he said.

Earlier, one plan was to get businesses to buy into the Keep Franklin County Beautiful program, but Turner said that’s on hold until the County has a firm plan and roadmap for keeping litter under control.

Last year, Macomson and Commissioner Kyle Foster spent a day picking up trash along Gumlog and Gerrard Roads.

Macomson noted the County as a whole needs change its attitude towards roadside litter.

“I think Franklin County needs a culture change because we picked up litter and it didn’t take the next day. It was two or three hours later and you could hardly tell that anything had been picked up. It was on Gerrard Road and it was just that fast,” he said.

Macomson thanked Franklin County Sheriff Steve Thomas for having inmates pick up trash on roads.

“We appreciate that,” he said.

After hearing from Turner, Macomson said the Board and the County will continue to work on a solution to the litter problem in Franklin County.