Keep Horry County Beautiful: Regions ranked by ‘litter index’

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WMBF) - Throughout the last year, the Keep Horry County Beautiful committee found eight areas in the county where a good amount of litter winds up.

As affiliates of Keep America Beautiful, The KHCB Committee conducted a litter index.

The areas of the 2022 index include Duford, Aynor, West Conway, Socastee/Garden City, Loris, Carolina Forest, Longs, and Little River.

This year the overall average has reduced substantially.

Carolina Forest saw a substantial reduction in Litter.

According to the Committee’s scale, Carolina Forest has an average litter index of 1.3, making it the region with the least litter.

A ‘1′ is the best score an area can get, and ‘4′ is the worst.

“And we have over 100 volunteers now who pick 27 miles of road in Carolina Forest, we pick anywhere from 150 to 200 bags of liter a month,” said Betsy Fay, the President of Beautify Carolina Forest.

Aynor ranks as a 3, meaning high traffic with liter in most areas.

The community clean-up project puts on events such as the one-time road clean-up and a two-year adoption for county roadways and recreation facilities.

KHCB also informs the Horry County Police Department of upcoming cleanup events, and share litter index results to help target enforcement.

“It’s always wonderful to see community groups reach out to us, and then form even larger volunteer networks who all have the same mission which is to reduce litter,” said Ashley Cowen, the KHCB Parks and Recreation Deputy Director.

Fay says it’s so good to see the community come together to help.

“It’s kinda cool on Saturdays when you see all your little volunteers out there picking litter and their little bags being left on the side of the road for the County to pick up,” said Fay.

As more come together to help reduce litter, committee members say it’s gratifying.

“It’s just as heart warming to see when people come together to see a mission that’s unifying,” said Cowen.

On June 21, the KHCB Committee will discuss more littering reduction goals for the remainder of the year.

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