SAN ANTONIO – We’ve all seen it. Cigarette butts, gum wrappers, soda and beer cans and food containers on our 80,720 miles of Texas roadways.
“About three hundred and sixty two million pieces of trash accumulate on Texas roads each year,” Becky Ozuna, TxDOT Campaigns Coordinator said.
It’s why the Texas Department of Transportation started it’s “Don’t mess with Texas” campaign 35 years ago, and now, they have an app where you can tattle on fellow Texans if you see them littering on Texas highways.
The app is called “Don’t mess with Texas.” While traveling, have a passenger take notes on a litterer, like the license plate number and make and model of the vehicle.
“Plug in the vehicle, make and model license plate location and time,” Ozuna said. “And you can actually put in there what you saw them litter, whether it came from the passenger side or the driver’s side, or even the bed of the truck, which is a big problem here in Texas.”
Once the report is processed, the litter bug will receive a letter in the mail from TxDOT reminding them about the incident and a Don’t Mess with Texas litter bag, along with information on state litter laws.
TxDOT encourages Texan drivers to keep the bag in your car for trash that accumulates and then keep re-using it. Your submission is strictly confidential. The litterer will not be able to find out who submitted them to TxDOT.
“Texans take such great pride in their state and they really do appreciate the opportunity to be able to hold each other accountable whenever they do see people that are on Texas roads,” Ozuna said. “So it just gives them the opportunity to feel some ownership over the state that they love.”
You can also report a litterer online.