Louisiana DOTD Announces Shocking Amount of Litter Picked Up in 2024

People are still littering in Louisiana, and in a story that I recently saw, the Department of Transportation and Development announced how much litter they picked up in our state in 2024.

KLFY News 10 recently did a story on DOTD cleaning up in Louisiana and their mission for "Love The Boot," and the spokesperson for the agency revealed the shocking number of tons of litter they picked up in 2024.

DOTD Public Information Officer Deidra Druilhet explained to the news station why it's so important to pick up litter in our state, and then she noted how much litter her agency retrieved last year.

According to Druilhet, Louisiana spent millions of dollars addressing litter along the roadways in 2024, and they estimate that they picked up over 60,000 cubic yards of litter last year. To put things into perspective, they could have filled up 18 Olympic-sized swimming pools with litter, and that was just a fraction of what was dropped across the state.

News 10 reports that the state spent over $13 million to address trash pickup in 2024.

Litter is not only an eyesore for our state, but it can obstruct drainage. Too often, after a thunderstorm or flood, you can see just how much litter is in the ditches, and if you live or work in an area prone to flooding, litter doesn't help the matter.

So, let's all do our part to make Louisiana beautiful and let's stop littering. The state is having to use too many resources to address something preventable, and if we all do our part, we won't have to spend millions of taxpayers' dollars to pick up trash in "The Boot."

Check out this report where the State of Louisiana is asking everyone to do their part to keep Louisiana clean and beautiful.