As an operations supervisor for the Illinois Department of Transportation Bishop Ford Maintenance Yard, Kyara Cowan hears one particular quip regularly among his crews while collecting litter along the side of expressways.
“Every time they see somebody throw something out of the window, they joke and say, ‘job security,'” Cowan said. “It’s rough, though.”
Cowan, of Homewood, has been with IDOT for 13 years, and littering has only gotten worse during that time. With much of the garbage coming from people throwing things out of their vehicles, the simple math is more traffic these days means more waste. Cowan and the crews also pick up debris from crashes as well as items that inadvertently fall off vehicles.
“But then some of the litter comes from semi-trucks that are transporting the garbage,” Cowan said. “We’ve just got so much garbage nowadays that the consumer garbage, it’s overwhelming. And some of the trucks that transport the garbage aren’t tarped properly. There’s times when we’re driving on the expressway, you’ll see a truck, there’s just paper and stuff blowing out of the back of the truck. We get that more often, and I think that’s making it tougher to keep these streets clean.”
Keeping the expressways clean can be a dangerous job, as there are no lane closures when crews are picking litter from the grass alongside the road. While IDOT does not track the specific tasks taking place with the following data, 141 work zone fatalities were recorded in Illinois from 2017-2021, according to Maria Castaneda, communications manager and public information officer for IDOT. Of those, five were IDOT workers.
As with any work zone, Castaneda said motorists should be alert, slow down and move over whenever possible to give people room to work.
“At the end of the day, we all just want to get home to our families,” she said.
Cowan said safety is always on the minds of crews as they identify work areas. He makes sure they get all of the necessary protective equipment, vests, bug repellent, gloves, eye glasses, bags, picks and grabbers before getting out there to work. They also have truck-mounted warning lights, at the very least, if not several trucks to help provide cover from traffic when they are working on the shoulders, Cowan said. He also encourages crews to face traffic to keep an eye on motorists who fall asleep at the wheel or come flying off the expressway for any other reason.
“When we’re off the shoulder on the side of the road, you feel safe in most areas,” Cowan said.
In addition to using in-house staff, IDOT contracts with private companies, a practice it started in 2020. The additional manpower helps the agency cycle through highway sections ranging from 2 to 28 miles, so expressways are constantly being cleaned, according to Castaneda.
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“Typically, it takes crews around two to four weeks to return to the same spot and begin the cleaning cycle all over again,” she said.
From March through December 2021, more than 140 tons of garbage was collected from litter picking alone, with 14,065 tons of debris picked up in sweeping operations along expressway shoulders, according to Castaneda. This year, crews have already grabbed in excess of 40 tons of garbage in litter picks and 11,000 tons of debris through expressway sweeping.
While trash — particularly food and drink containers — make up a good chunk of the litter tonnage, Cowan said crews find credit cards, IDs, tattered money and guns “on the regular.” Unless the IDs are expired, they are taken to the Post Office and returned to owners, Cowan said. Firearms require a call to Illinois State Police to pinpoint the location. The crew will leave someone with the gun until police come out to retrieve it.
“We won’t touch them,” Cowan said.
IDOT spent approximately $41.3 million statewide on litter and debris pickup in 2021. According to a video created by IDOT, that cost is equivalent to resurfacing 21 miles of road or buying 261 more trucks to plow snow.
The state runs a campaign called “Think Before You Throw!” to discourage people from littering by raising awareness of its impacts and emphasizing the consequences beyond just being unsightly. Litter can cause distractions and lead to more collisions. And it has an environmental impact that can include killing plants and animals.
“A lot of people think, ‘I’m just one person. I toss a cup out the window or one napkin out the window, it’s no big deal,'” Cowan said. “But when there’s thousands of motorists going down the road every day, that one person and no big deal turns into hundreds to thousands of people, and that’s why our expressways look so bad right now.”
Littering is 100% preventable — and illegal, carrying a fine of up to $1,500, Castaneda said. People who are convicted of littering on a highway may also be required to maintain litter control for 30 days, she added.
Cowan said back at home, his children are taught not to throw things out the windows. He encourages them and others to instead keep a bag in the car to collect garbage until they reach an appropriate place to dispose of it, such as a gas station or home.
“In my household, it’s a big thing,” Cowan said. “I wish it was like that in other households. I think that would really cut down on the garbage out there.”
Bill Jones is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.