Denmark cleanup brings volunteers, officials together to fight roadside litter

Heritage Highway in Denmark was the focus of a fast-moving cleanup that left 13 bags of litter off the road in just one hour and thirty minutes, with nine volunteers working the stretch surrounding City of Refuge Ministries at 22165 Heritage Highway. The effort pulled together Bamberg County Councilman Dr. Jonathan Goodman, City of Denmark Mayor Harold Johnson, City of Denmark Councilwoman and Keep Bamberg County Beautiful board member Charnda Sanders Williams, and Keep Bamberg County Beautiful Executive Director Alisha Moore, along with church members and community supporters.

Keep Bamberg County Beautiful and City of Refuge Ministries, led by Pastor Hezekiah Wroten, framed the work as more than a photo opportunity. County officials said the cleanup was meant to improve the appearance of the area and promote environmental stewardship, an aim that carries extra weight in a county where roadside litter can quickly undercut the first impression drivers get on the way into town.

Goodman said the turnout showed how much a small group could accomplish in a short time. Johnson praised the partnership as a way to create a more welcoming environment, while Moore said every bag of litter removed made a difference. Those remarks came as Bamberg County used its April 23 “Community is Beautiful” message to keep attention on Denmark and on the county’s broader beautification push.

The county’s record shows that the Denmark work was part of a larger effort, not a stand-alone cleanup. In March 2024, Keep Bamberg County Beautiful organized a post-tornado cleanup in Denmark after an EF-2 tornado swept through Bamberg County, with volunteers also targeting streets such as Locust Avenue, Lagare Street and Brooker Street. In July 2025, the county announced a $20,000 Keep America Beautiful grant for a county-wide cigarette litter prevention and recycling campaign covering Bamberg, Denmark, Ehrhardt, Govan and Olar.

Keep Bamberg County Beautiful says it has received or helped bring in more than $480,000 in grant money since it began, planted more than 300 trees and shrubs, and helped remove more than 75,000 pounds of litter from roadways, boat landings and parks. The program says most of that work has depended on volunteers and partnerships with the South Carolina Department of Transportation, local businesses, churches and other community organizations.

For Denmark, the practical test is visible on the roadside: what gets picked up, what stays neglected, and whether the county can keep turning one-hour cleanups into cleaner corridors. The next measure will be whether the same level of coordination shows up again, not just in posts, but on the ground.