County litter pickup program gets underway

Flathead County launched its new roadside litter removal program Sept. 22 and removed 860 pounds of trash from the U.S. 93 corridor near the landfill during the first week.

The program aims to supplement the volunteer work done through the state’s Adopt a Highway program, according to Flathead County Public Works Director Dave Prunty.

The county’s Solid Waste District earmarked $50,000 this fiscal year to hire a supervisor and two laborers to clean the road ditches.

“We have worked on reducing the volume of litter generated on the roadways through radio and billboard ads and stories in the newspapers informing residents and business to secure their loads before driving to the landfill or container sites,” Prunty said. “The volume of litter appears to be relatively constant, so this is our next attempt to improve the issue.”

Litter pickup will continue through October as weather and employee availability allows, and then will start back up next spring.

“We have coordinated our work with the Montana Department of Transportation since we will be working by their highways,” Prunty said.

During the inaugural week, work was completed from the entrance of the landfill, going south on the west side of U.S. 93.

On Friday workers expected to reach the Stillwater River bridge on near Eisinger Automotive Group. The next work will occur from the bridge north toward the landfill entrance. After that the crew will work from the landfill entrance north to the U.S. 93 and Montana 40 intersection.

Prunty has used temporary labor at times in the past for highway litter collection. The money budgeted will pay for roughly eight weeks of work through the summer season.

“It’s going to function just like Adopt a Highway,” Prunty said.

The state operates the volunteer Adopt A Highway program in which an individual or group of people sign an agreement with the state to adopt a 2-mile section of highway for two years.