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Martin County starts trash free park program

Posted at 3:48 PM, Jun 24, 2016
and last updated 2016-06-24 19:14:47-04

If you're headed to the beach in Martin County you might want to bring a trash bag.

The Parks and Recreation Department has created a new trash-free parks program.

Trash cans will be removed from 22 of the county's parks and beaches.
     
The idea is that without garbage cans people will take home their trash from parks and beaches and then throw it away there.

"We're going to save a lot of tax dollars through not as much waste collection and our residents pay that anyway at their homes so it's not going to be any extra burden for them,” said Martin County Parks and Recreation Director Kevin Abbate.

Abbate also says it will free up county workers for other park projects.

"We spend so much time taking care of trash cans that we sometimes are neglecting some of our other duties, which are pressure washing picnic tables and making our parks what they should be, pristine," he said.

Some beach visitors say worry that not everyone will want to pack up their trash and follow the rules.

"If you put that much pressure on someone with a family and going to the beach, all of them won't throw it away," said Oscar Torres, who visits Bathtub Reef Beach often with his family of seven. "They'll probably just leave it there".
    
Abbate says to fight any extra waste on the beach crews will be using pick-sticks to collect litter daily. He also says signs will be put up reminding people to take their trash home with them, or they could face a fine for littering.