We’ve all seen the signs along some roads which announce which company is taking care of cleaning up that section of the highway. It’s a nice idea because most of us don’t want to stare at trash along the roadside, and it’s generally not so good for the environment either.
Perhaps there have been some hazards to watch out for in the past – broken glass, sharp objects, and even slippery spills. Now there is another hazard to watch out for: potentially toxic debris discarded from methamphetamine labs. A couple of years back President Bush signed a law restricting how much pseudoephedrine an individual can buy, and many states have passed similar ones. So, while this has lessened the number of meth labs that can be found, there are still some around, and the perpetrators still dump their debris on the sides of the road.
Keep Nebraska Beautiful is a civic group which launched an education campaign a while back and created a DVD on meth-litter for the thousands of 4-H clubs, Scout troops and Rotary clubs that are involved in clean up work. On June 29, 2011 there was a report in the Keep Nebraska Beautiful newsletter stating that the City of Seward, Nebraska brought home more honors than any other community. Seward won the Deanie Anderson Outstanding Community Environmental Award and a Great American Clean-up Award of Excellence for their recent city wide cleanup.
In light of the ongoing commitment to keeping the roads and streets clean, Seward and all other communities do well to listen to the advice of Jane Polson, the group’s executive director. "We recommend to every single group to view that video before they go out so they know how to respond.”
Our neighbors over in Kansas would add the advice put out by Lt. John Eichkorn of the Kansas Highway Patrol. "We felt it was important to notify the public that the trash you might as a Good Samaritan be out picking up on the side of the road could possibly be dangerous to you.” A news release a while back warned volunteers and highway cleanup crews to watch out for materials used to make the drug which can burn them or damage their lungs from inhaling fumes. Items to watch for include empty bottles attached to a rubber hose, the smell of ammonia and coffee filters stained red or containing a white powder residue.
