Jess Kerr. Photos by Pay Nanney
Wednesday, April 7, 2021 1:33 pm

Sculptures are popping up in Rutherford County to raise awareness of the growing litter problem on our roadways. Organizers are challenging you to THINK about the growing problem of litter in our county and act. The pieces were made using trash collected from Rutherford County roadways and trails and are accompanied with educational signage that link users to more information regarding the project.

Three installations were constructed: 1) Rutherfordton on Cleghorn Street, adjacent to the Purple Martin Greenway 2) N. Oak Street in Spindale across from the Rutherford Outdoor Coalition Office and the Thermal Belt Rail Trail, and 3) Forest City adjacent to the Thermal Belt Rail Trail on Park Square. The installations will be taken down at the end of the month.

The installations are part of Keep Rutherford County Beautiful's Spring Litter Sweep, in which volunteers have already begun removing trash from our roadways. More than 600 volunteers participated in the Spring 2019 initiative and over 16 tons of trash have been removed through the campaigns since inception in 2016. The sweep, held in April, features volunteer led cleanups across the county, all month long.

Volunteers are still needed to form teams and choose a road that needs attention. Keep Rutherford County Beautiful provides all the supplies, (safety vests, signage, gloves, heavy duty trash bags), volunteers provide two hours of their time picking-up. Moving the trash is not required, volunteers simply report the road they cleaned, and the bags will be collected.

To learn more about the impact of littering in our community visit: https://www.keeprcncbeautiful.org/think. To volunteer, contact Jess Kerr at 828-351-3235 or jess@rutherfordoutdoor.org.