For about nine years now, the City of Washington has held annual wetland cleanup days at the constructed wetlands on the waterfront. It’s a great effort, and last year, the event drew a record crowd of people willing to pitch in and spruce up the area. It’s happening again this Saturday, starting at 8 a.m., between the North Carolina Estuarium and Moss Landing.

The clean up is a commendable effort on the part of the city and the people who take the time to volunteer, but here’s the thing — we need more of that kind of effort in Washington, Beaufort County and across the state of North Carolina. Take a drive down any given road in the state, and chances are you can’t go a mile without seeing a piece of trash.

Locally, take a look at Jacks Creek next time you drive down Third or Fifth streets. In addition to the pretty geese and other creatures perched on the waterfront, it doesn’t take a very close look to see that the entire bank of the creek is usually covered in garbage.

Even after a cleanup or a sweep by an Adopt-A-Highway group, it doesn’t take long for the trash to build up yet again. It almost seems like a losing battle to clean it up. Yet, there are still volunteers who get out on a regular basis and do it. Not because they’re looking for recognition, but because it’s the right thing to do.

As with most problems, solutions to the littering issue can be proactive or reactive.

As for proactive solutions, that’s a tough trick to pull off. Education, public outreach and highlighting the problem can help change public perceptions on littering, but that’s a tall order and takes a lot of time and effort.

On the reactive side of things, littering laws are sometimes hard to enforce, because it’s hard to catch litterbugs in the act. Programs like Adopt-A-Highway anticipate and address the problem, but do little to help with the root cause.

The most powerful solution of all, it would seem, is volunteerism and a willingness to help keep the community clean; that same, “I’ll do it” spirit that will drive this weekend’s wetland cleanup.

Currently, the state contracts litter removal on two of Beaufort County’s busiest highways, U.S. Highway 17, and portions of U.S. Highway 264, with Precision Lawn Care & Landscaping, of Grifton. N.C. Highway 33, N.C. Highway 306, N.C. Highway 92 and N.C. Highway 99, however, are not covered by state contract, according to the DOT litter management system. A handful of other roadways throughout the county are adopted by private residents, civic groups and other service organizations.

But in the grand scheme of Beaufort County’s total roadways, the mileage covered is just a drop in the bucket.

A once-popular program for cleanup, which utilized inmates from North Carolina Prisons, was discontinued in 2018, leaving the removal of trash to either government contractors or willing volunteers.

It’s the latter that will have to do the lion’s share of the work to make any meaningful change. Whether through the formation of an independent beautification group or under the preview of local governments, there has to be a way to address the littering problem.

Maybe it takes the form of more robust adopt-a-street programs in our towns, or adopt-a-stream/creek/river programs for our waterways, both of which wouldn’t cost much to implement. Even without government involvement, it’s going to take some leadership to tackle such a big issue.

Whatever it looks like, Beaufort County is in need of some leaders to step up and tackle the issue. This weekend’s wetland clean up is a great place to start.