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2023-062 Litter Cleanup Programming and Opportunities Date: September 8, 2023 Report No. 2023-062 INFORMAL STAFF REPORT TO MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL SUBJECT: Litter Cleanup Programming and Opportunities BACKGROUND: On August 30,City Council Member Holland shared a resident's concern over the amount of litter in the City of Denton and encouraging the City to create service focused on improving the appearance of the city. DISCUSSION: The City of Denton has several departments and programs that work to reducing litter throughout the city and thus improve its appearance, as highlighted below: PARKS AND RECREATION/KEEP DENTON BEAUTIFUL Parks and Recreation deploys volunteers through the following Keep Denton Beautiful (KDB) programs to address litter prevention and cleanup: Community Appearance Index—Each year our Keep Denton Beautiful staff deploy a group of volunteers throughout the community to conduct a windshield survey scoring methodology to measure the litter and appearance of the city. Using Keep America Beautiful's nationally recognized litter assessment scale, a team of staff and community volunteers will score litter prevalence along 96 different roadway"zones" in Denton. Results from this annual citywide litter scan allow KDB to pinpoint and monitor highly littered areas of Denton, and then subsequently target these areas for increased litter cleanup and education efforts year-round-primarily through volunteer-driven programs like Meetup Cleanups, Adopt-A-Spot, and the Great American Cleanup. See the chart below for scoring results. No scoring was conducted in 2019-2020, 2020- 2021, or 2021-2022 due to COVID-19. Community Appearance Index ' 6 4.0 !v 4 8 2.6 2.3 2.1 N 2 Ta 2}63 1.4 2.0 1.6 1.6 1.6--------- 1.2 . it 1.6 0 --_IIII---------1111-- ----- IIII----- FY16.17 FY17.18 FY1819 FY22.23 District 1 Southeast 0 District 2 Northeast District 3 Northwest-West District 4 Southwest-South Citywide Date: September 8, 2023 Report No. 2023-062 Great American Cleanup — Denton's largest and longest-running litter cleanup event is hosted each March and coincides with the universities' Big Event volunteer service day. This event is part of a nationwide beautification campaign led by Keep America Beautiful. In Denton, an average of 2,000 volunteers assist with this one-day citywide effort. In 2023, KDB volunteers removed 6.35 tons of litter from Denton roadways, parks, and waterways. For more information on this nationwide effort, visit kab org. Meetup Cleanups—As an ongoing effort to remove litter from the community, cleanup supplies (trash bags, recycling bags, disposable gloves, safety vests, and pickup sticks) are provided to volunteers at no charge. Anyone can sign up on a one-time or recurring basis. Staff receives an annual average of 100-150 "Meetup Cleanup"requests. Adopt-A-Spot—For volunteers committed to long-term roadway cleanups,KDB offers the Adopt- A-Spot program. There are 98 Adopt-A-Spot locations, which are currently all adopted. "Adopters"must sign an agreement to conduct quarterly cleanups and submit reports to staff. The 1-2-mile roadway selections are City-owned, non-TxDOT roads and are determined through the annual litter assessment. Denton City Council maintains an Adopt-A-Spot location along Bell Avenue from Prairie Street to Eagle Drive. Adopt-A-Spot Locations IT Kru Krum ® ��JJU7 COOP O 380 Ir© 4.. r-4er Creek 380 .�' © © Cross F RAYZO' �,, © Oal fonder Shady Shores Coro h © t IV Argyle Lake Dallas 377 .AL Cigarette Litter Prevention Program—Through grants from Keep America Beautiful, staff have been able to place 26 cigarette litter receptacles around the Downtown Square and mews streets, the Fry Street area near the UNT campus, and within Quakertown Park. Staff lead quarterly volunteer opportunities to empty the receptacles and conduct litter assessments to gauge the effectiveness of the receptacles. KDB recently received 20 additional receptacles to place in Date: September 8, 2023 Report No. 2023-062 cigarette litter hotspot areas. Volunteers and staff collect an average of 15,000 cigarette butts annually. The cigarette butts are mailed and recycled through an outside company. Cigarette Litter Receptacles t Fry Street w t t - I Quakertown o_ GreenHo 'selp Park W Congress St ® op 1 _o Z 0 pay' 3 y CL ` W 0 E 3 o ' - ry v, < Gregg St < Recycled BooksMcKinney St �� ®ej W'jc � ),k Crt�® Hanabi Ramer 09 �+ Iner & Ba _ U 3 171 D-ntown Dentc a 11 Transit Cent 3 y N E Sycamore St While thousands of KDB volunteers make a huge impact in our community, due to safety, we are not able to send volunteers to all littered locations. Litter hotspots like high-speed roadways such as I-35 (45+ mph), illegal dumping sites, encampments, and along railroads (UPRR and KCRR) and sections of the Rail Trail (Non-City trail/DCTA tracks) are not considered safe locations to send volunteers. One consideration is to expand upon the existing illegal dumping and mowing contract to include these high-risk littered areas. Illegal Dumping Crew - A few years ago, Parks and Recreation created an "Illegal Dumping Crew". This crew consists of two dedicated staff members that pick-up litter across the city. This was the first phase of dedicated staff to focus on the cleanliness of the community. Phase 2 which consists of an additional two staff has not been implemented due to department priorities and funding availability. Cleanup of City Parks(Pounds of Debris Removed) ' 150k D d a 0 102,505 100k N c a, 50,900 0 50k to n 16,090 12,040 12,080 13,006 0 Feb 2023 htar 2023 Apr 2023 May 2023 Jun 2023 Ju12023 This includes the cleanup of homeless encampments as well as instances of illegal dumping throughout the City. Date: September 8, 2023 Report No. 2023-062 KDB /Volunteer Supervisor - Since March 2022, the KDB/Volunteer Supervisor position, who leads the efforts mentioned above, has been vacant for 12 months (non-consecutive). The responsibilities of the position have also expanded to encompass all beautification efforts within Denton Parks and Recreation. This vacancy has impacted beautification and volunteer efforts as an organization. If the City wishes to expand efforts, additional resources (staffing and materials/supplies)would be necessary to accommodate this need. ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES AND SUSTAINBILITY Stream Clean- Stream Clean is the City's long running annual waterway clean up event focusing on public access streams,ponds and Lewisville Lake northern shore. In 2022 over 500 volunteers collected more than 500 bags of trash, 30 bags of clean recycling and 100's of large or heavy loose items including over 30 tires. Volunteers pick up litter and debris from five to eight miles of drainage channels and shoreline and average at least a ton per cleanup. COMMUNITY SERVICES Community Improvement Services (CIS)works with Private Property owners to address trash and debris (litter) on private property to ensure trash and debris are properly collected. Downtown Ambassadors—The City of Denton is starting a new program in 2024 that will provide a greater focus on downtown Denton. One aspect of this program will be increased staff and cleaning efforts in the downtown core, in hopes to reduce litter, debris, and graffiti. SOLID WASTE AND RECYCLING Pursuant to its state permit to operate the City of Denton Landfill, (MSW1590B), the City is responsible for litter cleanup daily, each day the landfill is open(six days a week), on all roadways that are used as access routes, within two miles of the site entrance (Mayhill and Spencer). This task is completed using 4- Field Service Workers 11 and contract employees supplied through the City's Temporary Services Contract and its agreement with Our Daily Bread. In addition to offsite litter collection, which lasts four to six hours per day, staff also collects litter on the landfill proper as well as completing additional tasks (landfill spotter and minor site maintenance). The annual cost for this effort is approximately$300,000. Staff is on track to collect over 6,000 bags of litter, and other assorted large, bulk-type items, in CY2023. In addition, to help further mitigate litter resulting from unsecured material blowing out of vehicles traveling to the Denton Landfill,the City on Denton, in support of State law(30 Texas Administrative Code 145 and the Texas Transportation Code, Title 7, Chapter 725, Sec.725.021 (c)), requires that all loads be contained, secured, or tarped. Persons arriving at the landfill with unsecured loads are assessed an additional fee. Date: September 8, 2023 Report No. 2023-062 TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Adopt-A-Highway—Texas Department of Transportation(TxDOT) offers a state-wide program, Adopt-A-Highway,which targets litter cleanups along TxDOT highways. Staff are in contact with TxDOT AAH Coordinators to disseminate litter prevention educational material through their Don't Mess with Texas campaign. For more information on this program, visit txdot.gov. Staff, residents, and community members are encouraged to report litter and debris on or surrounding highways on TxDOT's website. CONCLUSION: Multiple resources, programs, and opportunities exist currently for cleaning up litter throughout the City. Community members are encouraged to report litter on Engage Denton for cleanup, as well as participate in the volunteer opportunities and events hosted throughout Denton. If an increase in service levels are desired, additional discussion and direction will need to be provided by the City Manager's Office and City Council. STAFF CONTACT: Gary Packan Parks and Recreation Director Gary.Packan@cityofdenton.com (940) 349-7460 REOUESTOR: Council Member Holland STAFF TIME TO COMPLETE REPORT: Two Hours PARTICIPATING DEPARTMENTS: Parks and Recreation, Solid Waste and Recycling, Community Services, and Environmental Services and Sustainability