City employees and a host of volunteers have been doing their part to eradicate litter throughout Lawton, the City Council was informed recently.
The city’s litter abatement efforts focus on three departments: Public Works (drainage, solid waste, and stormwater), Parks and Recreation, and Neighborhood Services.
Stormwater Management provides public service announcements and advertisements, and its education outreach program involves classroom presentations, flyers and newsletters. A pollution “hotline” is posted on creek signs and trucks, which thus become “rolling billboards.”
Stream clean-up events are promoted via Adopt-a-Stream and Adopt-a-Street projects and on “Stream Clean Saturdays.” Dump site clean-ups also are performed with assistance from Drainage Maintenance and Solid Waste employees.
Litter removal along South 11th Street on the route to the sanitary landfill is performed by in-house personnel and contract crews.
The Solid Waste Division eliminated 11 illegal dump sites during the year and assisted Stormwater/Drainage crews in removing trash and other debris from streams.
To reduce the number of abandoned shopping carts in town, the City Council authorized a “No-Cart November” event. Shopping carts were retrieved, at no cost to residents, throughout the month.
The event resulted in the collection of more than 100 discarded shopping carts at various locations, Public Works Director Michael Watrous reported. About one-fifth of the carts had been set at curbs, but the vast majority were found by crews searching alleys and other locations.
Commercial businesses are allowed to reclaim abandoned shopping carts at no cost, at the Public Works office, 2202 SW Third St., during normal business hours through December and January. After Jan. 31 the carts will be subject to disposal.
Abandoned shopping carts have been a pet peeve of outgoing Ward 2 Councilman Kelly Harris.
In the first four months of Fiscal Year 2025, which started July 1, the Community Services Department sent almost 5,000 litter abatement notices to citizens, Neighborhood Services Supervisor Josh White said.
A fifth nuisance abatement contractor was added to the city’s roster of vendors in mid-September, “and we’re working on bringing in additional abatement contractors,” Community Services Director Charlotte Brown told the council.
The Parks and Recreation Department is primarily responsible for litter abatement in Lawton’s municipal parks, but its staff members also “police along 11th Street out to the landfill twice a week,” department Director Larry Parks said. “We also have 97 easements to police,” he added.
Litter abatement also is included in mowing contracts for principal rights-of-way (ROW) and medians, Parks said. The department has annual contracts with several groups, he related, including:
• Adult and Teen Challenge, major east/ west medians and ROW plus neighborhood medians.
• Lawn Wizard, major north/south medians and ROW plus vacant city-owned lots.
• 7XL Land and Cattle, city properties.
Controlling litter is vital to maintaining the city’s aesthetic appeal, promoting community health and pride, and “protecting our environment and wildlife,” Parks said.
“This is a priority of the City Council and of the citizens of Lawton,” Mayor Stan Booker asserted.
Challenges, though, Parks noted, include inadequate staffing to remove the endless volume of litter; illegal dumping in remote areas, such as along South 11th Street; and weather- related disruptions.
Public Works has one vacuum truck to ‘inhale’ litter and ordered a couple more of the vehicles recently, and they should be available in two to three months, Watrous said