The City of Savannah has joined with Parker’s, the Savannah Morning News and other local sponsors to launch the first comprehensive citywide public-private collaboration to fight litter in the community. The campaign’s goal is to curb littering in Savannah by 50 percent over the next year through a strategic education and social media outreach initiative.

“Did you know that last year, U.S. taxpayers spent nearly $11 billion cleaning up litter across the country?” said Greg Parker, CEO and President of The Parker’s Companies. “That’s more than 10 times the cost of trash disposal.”

With the help of many local sponsors, the Keep Savannah Clean initiative has grown from a simple idea to a full-blown social media campaign. 

“I want to thank the sponsors for donating to the Keep Savannah Clean initiative,” Parker continues. “World-class cities thrive on successful public/private sponsorships and without you this campaign would not be possible.”

Mayor Edna Jackson challenges the community to make beautifying the city a top priority.

“What I love about this campaign is it involves the entire community – City government, businesses and citizens -- standing together against litter,” Mayor Jackson said. “Savannah is the most beautiful city in America, and it takes all of us to keep it that way.”

The Problem: Litter is costly, unsightly and quickly growing out of control. With the launch of this campaign, the City of Savannah will utilize the Keep Savannah Clean social media pages as a tool to educate area residents. At the same time, social media will be used to expose those who create litter in our community and to celebrate individuals who are doing their part to reduce litter in Savannah.

How It Works: The city is asking citizens to snap a photo of a person littering and to upload it to either the Keep Savannah Clean website (www.KeepSavannahClean.com) or their own social media pages using the hashtag #LitterCrew. Individuals who participate will be entered into a weekly drawing and will be eligible to win prizes such as Parker’s gas cards, parking passes and gift cards to local restaurants.

Photos will be shared via the Keep Savannah Clean social media pages and on the campaign’s website, bringing awareness to the litter problem affecting the city.

“Some people believe that litter is a small issue; that somehow it’s okay to thoughtlessly discard trash on our streets and in our neighborhoods,” says City Manager Stephanie Cutter. “With the launch of this campaign, we’re saying it’s NOT okay and we will NOT stand for it.”

How does the City of Savannah plan to keep the litterbugs in check? The City has close to 75 Deputy City Marshals working for departments across the City organization who are empowered to issue citations for local ordinance violations, of which littering is one. While these Marshals generally concentrate on their department’s area of enforcement, they will be cross-trained to issue citations for litter violations. While Police will be focused on more serious crime, they too will be educated on local litter laws, and encouraged to issue citations, as they deem appropriate.  

“If you are caught littering, we will cite you,” Cutter continues. “We will not tolerate this behavior any longer.”

Follow the campaign on Facebook by visiting www.facebook.com/KeepSavannahClean and on Twitter and Instagram by following the handle @KeepSAVClean. To donate to this campaign, visit www.gofundme.com/KeepSavannahClean. 

Want to join the movement? Follow the instructions below to join the #LitterCrew: 

Option #1: Submit a Photo to the Keep Savannah Clean Website

- Snap a photo or video of someone being a litterbug or a good Samaritan.

- Visit KeepSavannahClean.com and click “Submit Photos or Video.”

- Upload the photo/video and fill out the entries on the submission form.

- Agree to the Terms & Conditions.

- Click “Submit.”

Option #2: Submit a Photo via Social Media

- Snap a photo or video of someone being a litterbug or a good Samaritan. Upload this photo to your personal Facebook, Twitter or Instagram pages.

- Tag your photo with the hashtag #LitterCrew.