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Clean Communities

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Morris County's Clean Communities program is part of a statewide strategy to prevent litter from accumulating on streets, beaches and waterways, in parks, recreation sites and vacant lots, and to clean up litter. There are three goals: education, enforcement, and cleanup. Funding is provided by NJ from a user fee on 15 kinds of litter-related products. This fee is assessed at the manufacturer, wholesale and retail levels. The funds can be used to educate about litter abatement, as well as for litter cleanups.

What is litter?

Litter is garbage or trash that is out of place. It's found on our streets, highways, lakefronts, parks and school grounds. Litter takes many forms such as paper, plastics, metal cans, cigarette butts, food packaging and tires.

Slam Dunk the Junk

Put Litter In Its Place! Morris County's Clean Communities program now provides two new grant opportunity for public schools, grades 6-12, in Morris County.  Click here for more information on the grant and how to apply.

Image of fish in a polluted lake. Where does litter come from? There are many sources of litter:

  • pedestrians
  • motorists
  • overflowing household garbage cans
  • overflowing commercial containers
  • loading docks
  • construction sites
  • uncovered trucks
  • Litter is often wind-blown until it is trapped somewhere or goes down a storm drain.
     

How does it affect us? - Even small amounts of litter are unsightly, unhealthy and dangerous and may cause the following:

  • fires
  • pollution
  • accidents
  • low morale
  • diseases in people and animals
  • declining tourism and industry
     

Why do people litter? - People tend to litter...

  • when an area is already littered
  • when they don’t feel a sense of ownership or community pride
  • when they think someone else will clean it up
     

What can we do to clean up litter? We can get involved as follows:

  • organize a cleanup day through your municipality
  • purchase anti-litter signs for our town
  • sponsor contests in the schools
  • help the elderly or disabled to clean up their yards
  • raise awareness about litter through a public education campaign
  • donate trash receptacles to the town
  • empty trash receptacles on a regular basis
  • conduct a litter survey to find the worst spots
  • publicize our efforts in the local media
     

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Clean can be contagious!
Let’s take the time to care for our communities,
to pick up litter and plant flowers, trees and shrubs!