Asheville Reporter

City of Asheville issued the following announcement on Oct. 10.

As members of the Asheville community, we all take pride in our city and want to help it clean and beautiful.

There are many ways we can all work together to make this happen.

 Who to contact

Cleanliness falls to a variety of City departments, as well as private property owners, state agencies, and other organizations.  The City of Asheville currently recommends reporting litter or sanitation issues to the Public Works Sanitation Division via Asheville App or directly at 828-259-5857 or sanitation@ashevillenc.gov.  The Sanitation Division can assist in coordinating City departments and outside organizations to address sanitation issues, especially where litter is crossing property lines.   

What’s being done

City Council and staff are aware of the litter problem facing our City.  Staff have been working on developing and implementing short-term solutions to address litter, as well as discussing strategies for long-term sustainable solutions. Assistant City Manager Rachel Wood presented a report on Community Cleanliness Strategies at the March 22, 2022 City Council Meeting. You can watch the meeting recording on the City’s YouTube Page.  

Here is some more detailed information on responsibilities regarding cleanliness: 

Accumulation on Private Property

Private property owners (residential and commercial) are required to keep their property sanitary and free from accumulations of trash. Residents can report issues of litter or debris accumulation on private property to the Sanitation Division and a Code Enforcement Officer will investigate. Sanitation will work with property owners to ensure it is in compliance. 

General Roadside Litter

Many roads within City limits are managed by NC-DOT. NC-DOT has a litter control program. You can reach them at 828-298-0390 to voice your concerns. The City also communicates and coordinates with DOT regarding areas where sanitation is a major concern, such as in the photos you shared.  

Currently, there is no dedicated City staffing for roadway litter clean up on City roads, however, the City has allocated $500,000 of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to address community cleanliness here in Asheville. These funds will be used for roadside litter clean up, encampment cleanup, maintenance of undeveloped City property and other cleanliness initiatives. For City-maintained roads, the City contracts and partners with Asheville GreenWorks to coordinate roadway litter clean ups and neighborhood cleanups on City-maintained roads throughout the year, utilizing teams of volunteers to clean up communities. Volunteer efforts are on-going, but have been  limited during the pandemic.  Asheville GreenWorks has also set up ‘litter clean up stations’ around the City where volunteers can access gloves, bags, and other tools to assist with neighborhood cleanups. You can learn more about Asheville Greenworks and volunteer to help keep our City clean here:  https://www.ashevillegreenworks.org/volunteer.html 

Waterways

Waterway litter can sometimes be addressed via the adjacent property owner. These issues can be reported to the Sanitation Division and they will identify the responsible party and facilitate clean-up, although staffing resources are limited at this time. Asheville GreenWorks also has a very active waterway clean-up program with volunteers.

Original source can be found here.