'Clean Sweep' time in the Q-C

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By David Heitz | Tuesday, April 17, 2007 11:44 PM CDT | () comments

Alcoa employees Kristin Water and Melissa Andrews pick up litter under the I-74 bridge in Bettendorf as part of The Clean Sweep.

As dozens of volunteers scoured Grant and State streets in Bettendorf and 53rd Street in Davenport during Operation Clean Sweep on Tuesday, one pollutant stood out: cigarette butts.

“Volunteers could have spent their entire time picking up cigarettes on one square foot of ground,” said Carol Border, training officer for the City of Davenport Public Works Department. “Nationally, they say 38 percent of all litter comes from cigarettes.”

In each city, about 25 people pitched in to de-litter. Davenport volunteers spent most of their time cleaning up storm water detention areas behind Target on one side of 53rd Street and behind the former Gateway store on the other side. In Bettendorf, most of the cleanup took place under the Interstate 74 overpass at State and 14th streets.

“It’s like we’re everybody’s mom right now,” said volunteer Tim Miller, who works in marketing at Alcoa Employees and Community Credit Union in Bettendorf. “I imagine people see us picking up after them, so I suppose they’ll keep littering.”

Miller retrieved hair brushes, tires, plastic bags and Styrofoam packing peanuts, among other things. Bettendorf Economic Development Director Steve Van Dyke even found an old 45-rpm record.

“I’m seeing a prevalence of cigarette butts and chewing tobacco,” he said. “I think people just dump the cigarette butts out of their car ash trays in parking lots.”

Ethan Hill, a senior at Project Ready Alternative School, Bettendorf, called the litterbugs who left behind the trash “disrespectful.”

Wally Mook, public works director for Bettendorf, gave drivers the benefit of the doubt. “A lot of stuff blows out the backs of people’s vehicles. You’d like to think they don’t litter on purpose.”

Border agreed. “If businesses don’t keep the Dumpster lids closed and then it’s windy, stuff can blow out, and the same goes for cars. I’m sure a lot of the stuff we found blew out accidentally, because three different people found money. Two found a $10 bill, and one found a $5 bill.”

Volunteers at the Davenport site also found a homeless person’s abandoned camp. “There was a sleeping bag, a makeshift roof, a stack of empty beer bottles and a change of clothes,” she said.

Border said the city chose to focus on 53rd Street because of the amount of traffic that zips through the area. “We picked 53rd because it was messy. Pheasant Creek was just unsightly.”

Employees from about 20 retailers cleaned up the portion of roadway in front of their businesses.

Mook said Bettendorf chose its downtown area for the cleanup because it is a gateway to the city. “We want it to look good.”

David Heitz can be contacted at

(563) 383-2202 or dheitz@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at www.qctimes.com.