South Carolina Environmental Organizations Working Together Against Illegal Dumping

Two environmental organizations in South Carolina are partnering up to help prevent illegal dumping in the state.

“Adopt-A-Stream” volunteers have been working in areas to keep the land and waterways clean, but the waste has piled up quickly and has become overwhelming to handle themselves. Now, PalmettoPride is stepping in to help by reporting illegal dumping sites to law enforcement.

PalmettoPride is a nonprofit created by the South Carolina state legislature, with a goal of preventing and eradicating litter across the state.

“It’s easier for law enforcement to track illegal dumpsites because we can put cameras up and we can have other ways that we can, you know if we catch somebody on camera, you can put that on social media or the news and oftentimes we get people who say, ‘Hey I know that vehicle.’ And that’s happened a good bit,” PalmettoPride Executive Director Sarah Lyles said.

Lyles warns that if someone is caught illegally dumping waste, that person could face thousands of dollars in fines and in some cases, offenders could serve jail time. By enforcing these laws, it may deter people from littering, hopes Lyles.

“It’s going to benefit Adopt-A-Stream but also PalmettoPride so that we can track where these illegal dumpsites are,” Lyles said. “Once we can track them and we have that data, we can have a better idea of where we need to send law enforcement out, where we need to work with local governments on tackling these areas where people seem to go to take their trash.”

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