An unbelievable amount of litter gets picked up by Adopt a Highway volunteers each year.

We’re talking about several TONS of trash…

Of course we wish that litter wasn’t an issue at all, but we’re so grateful to the volunteers who give their time to help keep our highways beautiful.

“It’s important because we don’t have all the resources we need to pick up litter with paid services or our own staff,” says ADOT Roadside Maintenance Manager Mark Schalliol in the video above. “There’s a variety of reasons that people want to volunteer and get involved … they just want to do something and give back to the community “

Find additional details on our Adopt a Highway page. You can also check out our previous videos and blog posts for more information.

Still going strong after two decades of volunteer service, one Arizona family is working to keep SR 264 clean and beautiful through ADOT’s Adopt a Highway program…

Members of the Curtis family marked their 20-year Adopt a Highway anniversary last month and program manager Patricia Powers-Zermeño was there to celebrate with them. Here’s her account of the family’s June cleanup event:

Ron Curtis is a highway maintenance supervisor for ADOT’s Holbrook district. He let us know that the Curtis families on the Navajo Nation would be celebrating 20 years of Adopt a Highway volunteer service this June.

I asked Ron if I could attend their cleanup and learn more about his family. I was not surprised at the 7 a.m. start time but I was very surprised as I approached my destination and discovered I didn’t have any phone service.

I was surprised again when phone service returned and I realized I was in a new time zone. The Navajo Nation and Arizona are both on Mountain Standard Time, but Arizona does not acknowledge Daylight Savings Time and the Navajo Nation does.

I was an hour late to an event I invited myself to. To make matters worse, the ANSI Class II Safety Vest that is always under the seat in the car was not in the car. I am late and I am not properly dressed. Ron just smiled as he went to find a vest for me and I joined Ron’s sister-in law Henrietta and her children, Tiayrra – Jawaun and Raquel to talk about the day’s work.

Members of the Curtis family marked their Adopt a Highway 20-year anniversary last month. Every time I looked up there were more people gathering along the roadside to work.

Everyone was related and elated to see each other – it was sort of a cleanup/family reunion.

Before the morning was over, 50 family members (including relatives from New Mexico and Nevada) were participating in a cleanup that lasted five hours and resulted in 85 bags of trash.

After the work was done, the Curtis family plus one (me) met at the Chapter House for some socializing and the best Navajo Tacos in the world.

Ron says the Adopt a Highway volunteer program brings the Curtis family together.

“It’s a tradition. The earth is our mother and now it is up to us to take care of Mother Earth,” Ron said, adding that he believes his family’s work sends a message to motorists. “It’s part of their job, too, to pick up trash and be aware of their environment.”

People who volunteer with the ADOT Adopt a Highway volunteer program periodically write about the unexpected items they find along the Arizona roadside. But I continue to be most surprised by the treasures I discover alongside the road that can’t be picked up: camaraderie amongst Adopt a Highway volunteers and a strong sense of belonging and loving the land.

You can find more about the ADOT Adopt a Highway volunteer program online.

Adopt a Highway volunteers never can predict what they’re going to find out on the road…

From discarded cigarettes and fast food wrappers to cake mix and bobble heads (see video above), they have not only seen it all, but they've picked it all up.

We’re thankful for the approximately 1,570 volunteer groups who currently adopt an Arizona highway. It’s hard to believe, but roughly 335 of the groups have been volunteering for more than 10 years and of those, 50 have been with Adopt a Highway for more than 20 years!

ADOT’s Adopt a Highway coordinator Stephanie Brown says new groups are always welcome. Volunteers are especially needed outside of the Phoenix area … the biggest need is in Yuma, Kingman, Safford, Holbrook and Tucson.

The groups that volunteer do it for various reasons, but there’s always big opportunity for a rewarding experience as exhibited in the video above.

“I wanted to remember my son and I saw the Adopt a Highway sign and thought, ‘wow, his name could be up there on that highway forever,’” says volunteer Bonwyn Streich.

This is the sixth year Streich has picked up litter along a mile-long stretch of SR 87 (Beeline Highway) in memory of her son.

Missy Acuff volunteers along with Streich and says she’d like to see even more groups adopt a highway.

“I believe in karma,” she said. “You do something good and it comes back to you tenfold … we need more people who want to do this.”

Information on volunteering can be found on the Adopt a Highway webpage. You can also read a little more on how the Adopt a Highway program and its volunteers benefit Arizona in our blog post from last May.

Last month we told you about the thousands who take on the immense task of cleaning up Arizona ’s roads through ADOT’s Adopt a Highway program – more than 800 tons of trash is picked up off the state highways each year because of these volunteers!

But, picking up trash is just part of the equation when it comes to the very big job of keeping the roads clean. Education is the key to changing littering behaviors and teaching people how roadside trash really affects our state.

That’s where Don’t Trash Arizona! comes in. A joint effort between the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) and ADOT, Don’t Trash Arizona! was launched in July 2006 utilizing funding from Proposition 400. The program’s aim is to increase public awareness of the economic, health, safety and environmental impacts of roadside litter.

If you’re not convinced throwing trash on the side of the road is a big deal, check out these facts from the Don’t Trash Arizona! website:

• Roadside litter costs the Phoenix region about $3 million and nearly 150,000 labor hours each year to pick up trash along Valley freeways.
• Besides ruining our beautiful desert vistas, litter leads to traffic accidents and freeway delays. Each year, approximately 25,000 accidents are caused from dangerous debris on roadways.
• Littering is not only unsightly, it can cause environmental and health problems. Cigarette butts, for example, contain toxic chemicals that can end up in storm drains and contaminate our water systems.

The good news is that recent research has found the efforts of Don’t Trash Arizona! are paying off. A 2010 survey found that 74 percent of Maricopa County residents reported they had not littered at all during the past year, which, for the first time, represented an increase from previous years (only 69 percent had reported not littering in 2009).

We urge you to check out the Don’t Trash Arizona! website. There, you’ll find some great information, fun giveaways and, most importantly, ideas on what you can do to help!

It’s a sad truth, but trash thrown onto our state’s roadways really adds up.

That’s because it’s not just a few random soda cans, cigarettes or empty bags littering the roads and surrounding areas. In reality, more than 800 tons of trash gets picked up in Arizona each year.

We owe a big thanks to the thousands of volunteers who take on that cleanup effort through ADOT’s Adopt a Highway program.

The Arizona Adopt a Highway program, which currently has 1,577 volunteer groups on board, got its start in 1988. It came after the Texas Department of Transportation in 1985 developed the very first Adopt a Highway group in the nation.

Many states have followed and have a similar program in place that allows any individual or group to adopt a highway as a volunteer or through a maintenance provider as a sponsor.

As you can imagine, using volunteers to pick up trash is a real benefit to Arizona. Stats for 2008 show that Adopt a Highway provided a statewide labor benefit of nearly $4 million.

According to Stephanie Brown, ADOT’s Adopt a Highway coordinator, one big advantage of using volunteers is that ADOT maintenance crews are freer to work on roadway repairs that may impact the flow of traffic and aren’t tied up picking up litter.

What to expect …

If you’re thinking about volunteering, don’t worry, groups do not take on an entire highway! Brown says most volunteers are only responsible for stretches ranging from one to two miles along available state, interstate or United States highways.

You can expect to complete a two-year permit application to start with. ADOT asks that groups clean up their section of highway three to four times a year whenever it fits your schedule. ADOT provides the trash bags, safety vests, and general safety information.

Once you’re signed up and ready to go, you and your group will pick up trash, bag it up and place it on the side of the road … ADOT picks up the bags and takes it from there. As a token of appreciation, ADOT will install an Adopt a Highway sign recognizing your group on your stretch of road!

Find out more about ADOT’s Adopt a Highway program.