MEMPHIS, Tenn — Trash lines the streets of Memphis and residents want it gone. Memphian Vincent Brown first voiced his frustrations at an ABC24 Let’s Talk in Bartlett.
“When I first moved to Memphis, Memphis was a nice city,” Brown said at the Let’s Talk. “It is terrible how much trash is in our neighborhoods. You go down Cordova where I live at, Macon, all those sides of the road, there’s trash everywhere.”
Memphis City Beautiful is working to get the litter picked up but it takes everyone doing their part.
“We have various programs from our community tool bank where we loan tools to neighborhood groups in particular and other organizations so they can host their own cleanups,” Eldra White said.
White is the Memphis City Beautiful executive director. In 2023, Memphis City Beautiful worked with more than 3,600 Memphis volunteers and over 30,000 hours of community service were completed.
“We try to work with community groups to get them engaged with community cleanups,” White said.
Brown said fixing the issue of litter begins with accountability.
“You have a lot of houses out here with overgrown grass, people throwing litter everywhere. Start making these people who own these properties, responsible,” Brown said.
He also wants to see people who need community service hours picking up trash.
“Give them some gloves and the little sticks you can pick up trash with and put them in these communities,” Brown said. “I don’t know how many people have community service [hours] in Memphis but I guarantee it’s a lot.”
The consequence for littering in Memphis changes depending on how much trash there is but can result in a fine, a misdemeanor or even a felony if you’re seen littering large amounts.
“You’re trying to bring more businesses here, you’re trying to bring more industry here, people don’t want to come to some place where it’s dirty,” Brown said.
Memphis City Beautiful works to clean the city year-round. For more on how you can volunteer with the organization, you can visit their website here.