Nine local governments in northwestern Washington will share more than $937,000 in grants to address litter and illegal dumping over the next two years.

The Community Litter Cleanup Program, administered by the Department of Ecology (Ecology), provides funding to local governments to clean up litter and illegal dumps and to provide anti-litter education in their communities.
Ecology has awarded the grants to Everett, Island County, King County, Kitsap County, San Juan County, Seattle, Skagit County, Snohomish County and Whatcom County.

Using similar grants in the past two years, these nine governments cleaned up 3.1 million pounds of litter and illegally dumped material while cleaning 10,200 miles of roadway and 4,400 acres of public land.

Unlike many other state grant programs, the local governments do not have to provide matching money from their own budgets. However, they often contribute in other ways, such as waiving disposal fees, paying for crew labor and donating the use of county equipment.

“This funding is valuable for cleaning up specific litter-prone roadways and illegal dump sites,” said Steven Williams, who administers litter grants for Ecology. “The cities and counties play a valuable role in Ecology’s statewide litter efforts.”

He said these efforts have included promoting the Litter and it will Hurt litter-prevention campaign.

Funding comes from a litter tax imposed on industries whose products are related to the litter problem.  Statewide, Ecology has awarded $2.8 million to 41 local governments for litter-cleanup activities in the 2005-07 biennium, which begins in July.