KTVN Channel 2 - Reno Tahoe News Weather, Video - Trash Problem Worsens Across Truckee Meadows
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John Potter
Channel 2 News
The battle against littering in the Truckee Meadows goes on. For over 20 years now, the group Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful has had their eye out for trash.
And even after all that time, there's still a ton of it out there. Over 140 tons picked up by volunteers last year alone. You see it first hand on almost every drive - we found a widespread area of litter on the hillside at West Fourth Street near McCarran. If you go out in the ditches you'll find all sorts of trash from campaign signs to Styrofoam cups to old trash bags.
Is it getting worse? The people who try to clean up our town say yes. Christi Cakiroglu, the executive director of Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful, told us they do "an annual litter index survey every year, and as a community we are getting dirtier in our neighborhoods. I don't know if it's the economy or what, but we are seeing more littering and illegal dumping."
It may also be younger people, who don't remember a crying Indian or "Give a hoot, don't pollute." For that reason, there's a new campaign aimed at students with prizes for those who make an anti-litter poster, video or radio spot. NV Energy is on board as a co-sponsor. Community Relations Manager Karen Ross told us "the idea is we thought if we start with schoolchildren, we could educate people at that impressionable age, that we could teach them not to litter."
There's also a funding campaign on the K.T.M.B. website, where your donations are matched by Reno Lawn and Landscape. They hope to raise $20,000. For both, just go to the Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful website, at www.ktmb.org.
