Picking up the pieces: Sumter Economic Development asks area manufacturers to be ‘team players’ in litter solution by getting involved

Trash tossed along community roadways not only affects the environment, but it also affects potential growth for that community.

Seeing beer bottles, soda cans, fast-food bags and illegal dumping all are a major deciding factor on new companies looking to move into Sumter County. The types of companies that have the power to bring in millions of dollars and supply local residents with high-paying jobs to sustain a quality way of living.

About five years ago, a major prospect visited town and considered this to be a new base of operations. The community checked all the boxes, almost crossing the finish line. But then there was a red flag.

According to Sumter Economic Development President and CEO Jay Schwedler, the project investor came to Sumter with high hopes, but once the company representative saw the trash-filled streets, they were gone.

“It wasn’t specifically to Sumter. It was South Carolina in general,” Schwedler said. “It started to bother them as they were coming here, and then they came here, and they were like, ‘Why is your community so littered up? It doesn’t reflect the brand image that we uphold.’ And they were a company that was particularly sensitive about their image.”

That was the last time Sumter saw a potential prospect turn around because of the litter situation, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen again.

“I will say this, it’s better than it was,” Economic Development Project Manager Brian Rauschenbach said. “The seeing of litter while driving around the community is better than it was, but it’s not as good as it could be.”

Although many community residents, organizations and businesses volunteer once or twice a month to clean city, county and state roads, Sumter Economic Development thinks the 70-plus industry partners with hundreds of employees could make a difference, but the industry sector is not easy to convince.

“This is not a new thing. I mean, this has been going on forever,” Schwedler said. “There’s never been a really good, coordinated effort until now of the entire community – from education to industry, public governmental services and general citizenry.”

Before Schwedler joined the economic development mission in Sumter, there was a litter campaign years before the formation of the Litter Advisory Board. However, it wasn’t delivered properly. A poor choice of words created a bad relationship with the leadership of a plant out in Live Oak Industrial Park.

Now, with the new Stash the Trash initiative, they’re trying to rebrand and reapproach a litter campaign that they hope to keep around for years to come because litter will never stop happening. It’s up to the volunteers and the occupants of certain roadways, including the industries, to do what they can to limit the amount of trash on the roads they travel daily from work to home.

But requesting assistance from the manufacturers is a different ballgame.

“This is the issue. The campaigns aren’t strong enough,” said Erika Williams, manager of communications and strategic initiatives for Sumter Economic Development and a member of the Sumter Litter Advisory Board.

Stash the Trash is a new litter campaign that began near the end of 2022, and the community has worked consistently to make it a lasting effort; Sumter County Council authorized a 1-mill tax to fund the campaign annually.

Williams said the most challenging part when working with large companies is building a connection, why the litter is important and can impact the company personally. She said a few times, she’s made the connection and lightbulbs went off with plant operation managers.

In recent years, current and potential industry partners have been impressed by the city and county’s initiative of purchasing litter equipment, hiring officers to tackle the problem and hosting cleanups.

With that kind of response, the goal now is to get industries involved with a community-based approach.

“We didn’t do it either, but we’re putting effort, money and time, helping to coordinate a response to the litter,” Schwedler said.

The largest economic sector in Sumter, other than the military base, is manufacturing. It has more hands that can play a part in the solution.

“They have to be a player, and we’re begging them to be a partner,” Schwedler said. “They are one of the largest employers. They pay the highest general wage, so they have people. We need their help.

“We’re asking them to be a part of it, and we want them to be a part of it. We understand they’re not the contributor, nobody is saying that, but they can be a part of the solution.”

Sumter County Litter Officer Lt. Mike McCoy has spoken with many industries in the past month, but a few conversations stumped him. Managers said they were unable to take part because the company owners out of town are against the plants having signage or anything to do with volunteer work. Other times, companies don’t see it as their responsibility.

McCoy said he’s seen businesses clean up their own areas for the past year, like C. Simmons Construction Inc., which cleans up Stamey Livestock Road and the problem area near the recycling center of that area.

When it comes to larger companies, he’s witnessed Sumter Packaging do its fair share of cleanups, as well as Continental Tire, which assists in the City of Sumter’s Tire Buy Back program events. But they need all industries involved at 100%.

A few in Live Oak Industrial Park have taken the initiative by placing a Stash the Trash sign out front of their property while others have taken the effort even further, like EMS-Grivory’s Sumter plant, which has called the county home for about 40 years.

EMS-CHEMIE Operations Manager Calvin Leiter, who has led plant operations in Sumter for almost a year, was introduced to Stash the Trash a couple weeks ago and was immediately on board. He not only placed a sign in front of the property, but he also went above and beyond with a cleanup event of their own.

“It really started out of fear that I wouldn’t receive enough volunteers to give up some of their personal time on the weekend to do an unpaid activity, so I thought maybe I could entice them with a free lunch,” he said.

With just more than 100 employees at the site, 60 being under operations, Leiter created a cleanup day for all employees and their families to take part. They will start at 9:30 a.m. on May 6 and clean their area on Corporate Way to Clipper Road with a celebratory cookout at the end.

“I think it’s important that we get the message out. Not just for our own employees, but to a wider audience. People see that we are stepping up as a company to try and clean the area up,” Leiter said. “The more people we touch, the better off we are as a community,”

In the past, Leiter worked with other employers who held volunteer opportunities and cleanups through Adopt-A-Highway, so he thought the company could take on its own version by hosting a family friendly gathering a couple times a year – in the spring and fall.

“I’ve lived in a lot of places in my lifetime, and I was shocked by the amount of trash I see on the roadside in this particular area, especially the back roads,” he said. “I’ve actually witnessed people throwing things from their car, and so it was important to me to try and make a difference.”

He didn’t know what to expect, especially being a smaller company in Live Oak, but he had a positive response with several employees already signed up – most of which reside outside of Sumter County in Clarendon, Richland and Lee counties.

“I never anticipated that I would get the support we did, so I’m very proud of the workforce here,” Leiter said. “That trash may not come from us, but it’s just our property and it reflects poorly on our housekeeping, I guess. We’re allowing that trash to sit on our property. Not only that, but it’s a blight on the general area.”

McCoy was blown away by Leiter’s event and said the county will be there to supply vests, pick-up tools, bags and gloves. They will also lend a hand in the pickup.

“It’s very encouraging,” Assistant Public Works Director John McLeod said. “That’s what it takes; when you get one, you get two and then three.”

“We got the wheel rolling, and we ain’t going to stop,” McCoy said.

“The aesthetic of a community is more important today than it ever has been because people want to feel they are in a high quality of life place. One for their investment, and two for their employees,” Schwedler said. “It impacts the initial decision making. It impacts the ability to recruit and retain future and current employees, especially if they’re not from here.”

“I want Sumter to have the best appearance possible because when you have potential new investment and new jobs coming in, it betters the entire community,” Rauschenbach said.

“A lot’s been done, but there’s still a lot more to do, and if we want our community to be the best that it can be, we have to stop littering and we have to help pick it up, even if it’s not our problem,” Schwedler said. “We want the industries to participate because they have the numbers to really provide another support mechanism in the cleanup, and they should do it because they’re a part of the fabric of our community as well.”

McCoy continues to meet with industries across the county to get involved with Stash the Trash.

If you’re a Sumter industry partner or area resident who wants to get involved, contact Lt. Mike McCoy at (803) 607-3875.

Learn more about Stash the Trash, visit www.sumterlitteradvisoryboard.com.