Faced with growing piles of litter up around bus stops and no funds for trash pickup, the Fairfax County Department of Solid Waste is asking residents to help out.
The department is launching a contest to see which group of bus riders can collect the most trash in plastic bags affixed to the bus stop sign or a nearby tree.
When trash bags become filled to the bursting point with Styrofoam fast food containers, 7-Eleven coffee cups, gum wrappers, crumpled tissues, cigarette butts, and other litter, residents are encouraged to add a second bag.
There will, of course, be an incentive for playing the litter game. County solid waste personnel will make the rounds on the last day of the month with a portable scale and weigh the bags. Bus riders at the bus stop with the heaviest trash bags will get gift cards to a local fast food restaurant.
“This competition is a great way to encourage citizens to join the effort to keep our roadways clean,” said Stewart Sewell, director of the Solid Waste Department. “Instead of litter lying around in messy random piles, let’s work together to get it all collected in giant hanging bags,” he said.