Winning the battle against litter

  • Published
  • By Stephanie Manry
  • 82nd Civil Engineering Squadron
SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Every individual at Sheppard Air Force Base can help banish trash from our roadsides. Here are some simple things that can be done to keep Sheppard AFB litter-free:
  • Keep a litterbag inside vehicles and use it. When it's full, empty the contents into a trash can and reuse it.
     
  • Remember that throwing lightweight items like cans or wrappers in the bed of a pickup truck is like throwing them out the window. You risk being fined if it falls onto the roadside. Use your litterbag or cover your load.
     
  • Smokers should dispose of cigarette butts in a pocket ashtray or the ashtray in your vehicle. Do not throw them on the ground. Each year, 140 million cigarette butts are flicked onto Texas highways.
     
  • Upon seeing a piece of litter, pick it up and throw it away properly.
     
  • Teach children not to litter.
     
  • Find out more ways to get involved on base by contacting Don Smith at 676-4600 or Zach Bennett at 676-3275.
     
  • Find more ways to get involved in the local community by logging on to www.dontmesswithtexas.org
Learn how you can become a Don't Mess with Texas Partner

Take care of your very own stretch of road through Adopt-a-Highway. Several base organizations already participate in the Adopt-a-Highway Program sponsored by the Texas Department of Transportation. For additional information about this program contact Ben Coker, TxDOT employee, at (940)720-7700.

Report litterbugs online at www.dontmesswithtexas.org

To report a litterbug online, you'll need to note the date, time, location, Texas license plate number, vehicle model, who littered, and what they tossed out. Don't Mess with Texas will send the litterer a litterbag and a reminder that tossing trash on the road is against the law and an insult to the Lone Star State. However, the online reporting only works with Texas license plates.