Anti-litter campaign forms in Sikeston

SIKESTON — In a bold move to keep Sikeston clean, a new group is asking citizens not to be litterbugs and has launched a new anti-litter campaign.

Kathy McClellan, who is with the anti-litter campaign, spoke about her journey and why she believed it’s necessary to begin the campaign.

“The first thing that happened that brought my attention to all of this is I went on a trash pickup with my church group a few months ago,” McClellan said. “All went well, and it took a good part of our morning to do, but we all felt happy and hopeful afterward because it looked wonderful when we were done.”

McClellan went on to say about six weeks later, she received another call to cover the same area and pick up trash, so she returned. 

“And when I went, I saw that it looked just as bad as it did the first time,” McClellan said. “Instead of feeling hopeful and proud, I felt very frustrated and a little bit angry over the whole issue.”

McClellan said at that point, she realized she needed to do something. 

“Something needs to be done a step earlier than just the pickup,” McClellan said. “We have got to approach the people that are throwing things out of their car windows.”

McClellan added the litter campaign aims to address the litter problem before it occurs. She said she then began researching ways to reach out to the community and prevent littering. 

McClellan addressed the four main reasons why people litter, as identified by Keep America Beautiful, a leading nonprofit dedicated to educating and inspiring people to take action to improve and beautify their communities.

“One reason why people litter is because, sadly, people can be lazy,” McClellan said. “Another reason people litter is because there may not be trash bins in the area; third: people know that there’s already trash in the area, and, lastly, is because nobody enforces the laws.”

McClellan said Sikeston City Manager Jonathan Douglass will speak with Sikeston Department of Public Safety officers about enforcing the littering laws, which carry a fine. 

“We want to make people aware that there is a fine for littering and that they are going to be enforced if they are caught littering,” McClellan said. “We are also going to put up some signs reminding people about the fines for littering.

McClellan continued: “We want to have pride in our community and we want it to be beautiful.”

McClellan said she believes the true goal is to change people’s attitudes. She said many people are unaware of how littering affects wildlife.

“We have a lot of wildlife in this area,” McClellan said. “We see pictures of wildlife running around tangled in plastic shopping bags, and there are some animals that will get stuck inside a can or jar of some sort of food which causes a lot of suffering and death in animals, and we don’t want that.”

McClellan said they will also hold a poster contest involving children to help raise awareness, with prizes awarded to those who create the best posters.

For more information on the anti-litter campaign, contact Sikeston City Hall.