In 2021, trash haul for Ascension was a bumper year – The Advocate

Ascension Parish public works crews hauled in around 30% more bags of litter from roadsides, ditches and other corners of the parish in 2021 than they did in each of the previous three years.

Parish government also saw a roughly 70% increase in the number of cars and trucks visiting the parish's two recycling centers on the east and west banks of Ascension, new parish data shows.

With no parish government trash service, a collection of private operators with a mix of offerings, consistent new construction, and a community crisscrossed by major state and federal highways, litter has remained a continuing problem in Ascension.

Jade Robin, Department of Public Works assistant director and a project manager, provided Parish Council members with a data-laden update recently on the parish government's efforts to keep trash at bay through its Keep Ascension Beautiful program and other work.

Robin told the council that crews had picked up around 8,556 bags of trash in 2021, more than 2,000 bags greater than in each of the previous three years.

"So, we're definitely trending forward. Looking forward to moving even further with some of the things we have coming," Robin said in a virtual meeting Jan. 6.

The recycling centers also saw a combined 18,813 cars and trucks visit and dump trash in 2021, up markedly from the previous year, the data show.

The new data also detailed many of the odds and ends crews ran across and collected from the parish over the previous year, including 41 mattresses, five box springs, six sofa sets, four dressers, six toilets, a doghouse and a round hay bale.

Crews and the recycling centers also collected 1,720 tires in 2021.

Though cleanup crews and hazardous materials recycling cost parish dollars an April cleanup day cost $68,677 the cleanup efforts have also generated a little new revenue.

A scrap metal recycling program, which began in 2020, generated more than $15,100 through November 2021.

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Robin detailed efforts to drop roll-off trash boxes in selected locations in western Ascension and setting up "do not litter" signs at selected problem dump sites.

Parish Council members were generally congratulatory for the clean-up work but also had suggestions.

Council members Alvin "Coach" Thomas Jr. and Aaron Lawler asked Robin to consider installing remote cameras at problem dump sites to catch violators.

Thomas also told Robin to continue putting roll-off trash containers at selected locations in western Ascension. Residents in west bank areas like Smoke Bend, Aben, Modeste and Lemanville appreciated the roll-off trash containers, he said.

"I think it helps out tremendously, and it helps out the people putting the trash out. There's nowhere for them to go and put it. They don't have trash pickup in the parish in itself," Thomas said.

Moments beforehand, Robin had told the council that he considered the installation of roll-off containers in western Ascension as not "well-thought-out" because the containers became over-filled. Trash was stacked up next to the large bins.

Robin had suggested deploying the roll-off containers to one central location.

Council member Joel Robert said trash trucks headed to the commercial landfills in his Sorrento-area council district routinely have trash fly out along La. 22.

He urged the parish administration to try to address the problem with trash haulers.

"Just like everything else, though, if they're not being addressed by it and if they're not being spoken to about it, they're not going to do anything, you know," Robert said.

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In 2021, trash haul for Ascension was a bumper year - The Advocate