Prince George’s County Litter & Mowing Blitz
Dear Prince Georgians:
We are Prince George’s Proud to announce an enhanced litter and mowing strategy that residents have begun to see rolling out countywide. Prince George’s has a litter issue that continues to be problematic in this County, despite the fact that we spend millions on litter collection each year. However, in an effort to tackle litter and support the County’s overall beautification strategy, the Department of Public Works and Transportation (DPW&T) has embarked on a major litter blitz throughout all 9 Council Districts, which will run for at least 120 days. The County has quadrupled its efforts, while continuing to provide education to residents about the negative impacts of littering.
The plan is to clean trash from collector and arterial roadways, increase the frequency of mowing, and bring on additional contractors for street sweeping as part of a sustained effort to improve the overall aesthetics and environmental cleanliness of Prince George’s County. Some of these efforts started last week and are ongoing, and others begin this week. Our focus areas this week in the County for litter removal and mowing are Upper Marlboro, Fort Washington, and Suitland.
For litter collection, we are moving from collection every two weeks on the off ramps of I-95/495 and U.S. 50 interstate highway weekly, to a now twice-a-week collection on 141 roadways with heavy amounts of litter. That change was in place last Monday, September 19. We will have weekly collections on 331 other County roadways starting October 3.
We are also increasing the frequency of mowing. Mowing is now taking place every two weeks on primary collector and arterial roadways. In addition, mowing frequency has increased on rural roadside areas to every three weeks, previously taking place only every six to eight weeks. These changes took effect last Monday, September 19.
Finally, we previously utilized two cycles of street sweeping every year, in the spring and in the fall. Now, we will have one cycle every month for all County primary collector and arterial curbed roadways and residential streets for the next 120 days. That change in frequency begins this week.
My father used to always say that litter doesn’t grow like grass, and he’s absolutely right! Beautification should not mean collecting garbage from our streets. Instead, we should be able to put those dollars toward planting trees and landscaping. That’s why we are asking our residents and motorists to please properly dispose of waste in trash cans and other appropriate locations; please do not throw trash out of the window of your moving car or open your car door to set items on the ground.
We are one County, one community, and this is our home, so let’s hold each other accountable for Prince George’s. We invite you to visit our Part of it, Proud of it beautification campaign page for more information and resources. You can access that webpage here.
As part of a sustained beautification effort, DPW&T will also host the Fall 2022 “Growing Green with Pride Day” cleanup event on Saturday, October 15, from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM. We’re inviting everyone to come out and participate in a day of litter cleanup and beautification efforts in communities across the County. To register for this event, please fill out the application on our Growing Green with Pride webpage at mypgc.us/GrowingGreen.
We are proud to continue working, as a community, to beautify our County, but we need the village to come together to change our collective behavior. Please join us in our efforts, so we can ensure that our friends, neighbors, and family members know that our community is too valuable to treat like a dumping ground. That is how we will ensure Prince George’s County remains the Crown Jewel of Maryland.
Yours in service,
Angela Alsobrooks
Prince George’s County Executive
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