Bamberg County rallies volunteers for countywide cleanup and litter prevention effort

Bamberg County is leaning on Keep Bamberg County Beautiful to turn litter complaints into organized action, backed by a $20,000 grant for a countywide cigarette litter prevention and recycling campaign. The county says the program, a proud affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, is built around beautification, litter prevention and waste reduction, with volunteers of all ages being asked to sign up for cleanup work.

That matters because the county’s litter problem is not treated as a cosmetic issue. South Carolina law prohibits littering and illegal dumping on public or private property without permission, including highways, parks, beaches and streets. PalmettoPride lists Bamberg County litter-control contacts, a county recycling coordinator and Keep Bamberg County Beautiful contact information, giving residents a path to report problems and push for action where trash is concentrated.

The cigarette litter campaign is the clearest sign that the county wants more than cleanup photos. Keep Bamberg County Beautiful said the grant from Keep America Beautiful will support cigarette receptacles, public-service messaging, community outreach and volunteer-based data collection. That combination gives county officials a way to measure where cigarette butts are piling up and whether the effort is reducing the mess along roadsides, storm drains and other public spaces.

The program has already been working with local partners in visible places. On March 7, Keep Bamberg County Beautiful and City of Refuge Ministries hosted a community litter cleanup along Heritage Highway in Denmark. County releases also show the effort reaching back to the aftermath of the EF-2 tornado that hit Bamberg in March 2024, when the county said cleanup work was part of restoring the area’s natural appearance and recovery. That event drew County Councilman Dr. Jonathan Goodman, Denmark Mayor Gerald Wright, Denmark City Council members Calvin Odom and Rosa James, and other local leaders.

Earlier county cleanup work included an October 2023 effort on Highway 78 with County Councilmember Larry Haynes, Program Director Alisha Moore and The Free Gift Baptist Church. The county’s listed Keep Bamberg County Beautiful board includes Jerry Bell, Nina Haynes, Detra Salley Bruce, Rosella Cooper, LaShondra Morgan, Rosa James and Joan Coleman, underscoring that the effort is tied to an ongoing volunteer network rather than a single event.

PalmettoPride describes the Great South Carolina Cleanup as the state’s largest annual cleanup effort and part of the national Great American Cleanup, placing Bamberg County inside a larger statewide system. For county leaders, the next test is whether that network produces cleaner streets, fewer dumping complaints and a public record that shows where resources are going and what is changing.