Town of Altavista dealing with increased littering, looking for suspects

ALTAVISTA, Va. (WSET) -- Littering is becoming a major cause for concern for officials in the Town of Altavista.

According to the Community Development Director, Sharon Williams, they have been seeing an increase in discarded items along Route 29 near the Main Street exit.

She said the littering started in February and has gotten so bad that town staff has to spend an hour and a half at least once or twice a week to clean up the area.

"It is taking a lot of time of our public works staff to clean it up which means that we have to take them off of other projects that are already being scheduled," said Williams.

Williams said it is household trash, like beer bottles and mail, that's being discarded along the roadway.

She said they are trying to use some of the items to find the suspects and that police are increasing patrols in the area.

In Virginia, littering or dumping trash is a Class 1 misdemeanor.