WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — 928 bags and 37,120 pounds. That's how much litter Ricky Simmons and Johnny Chatfield picked up in Warner Robins in 2020.
Most days, you can find the two Public Works employees throwing away your plastic cups and fast food bags off the side of the road.
“We've seen people pass us while we're picking it up and throw it out their window. That's after they pass us,” says Chatfield.
He has worked in the department for 27 years and Simmons has been there for the last nine.
On Wednesday, the back of their truck was full of bags of trash just from half of Corder Road. Chatfield says they could drive down the road again Thursday and the trash will be right back.
“It can look like this tomorrow. It can look worser than this. In two weeks, it can look worser than this.”
In 2017, they spent 126 days filling up 701 bags of litter. That came out to 28,040 pounds.
In 2018, they spent 252 days on the roads picking up 46,280 pounds.
In 2019, 241 days and 39,560 pounds.
Last year in 2020, they spent 186 days collecting 37,120 pounds.
“It’s gotta be got,” says Simmons.
This year, they've already collected almost 9,000 pounds of trash. That doesn't even include heavier items like mattresses, tires or even toilets.
“To find out that number at the end of each year, it is shocking to know that a two-man crew had a lot to do with that,” says Chatfield.
He says they never know what they might find on the job.
“Somebody throwed a Burger King bag out, still had food in it,” he says. “I picked it up with my stick and I opened it up and it was a baby moccasin in it -- still alive.”
Public Works Director Craig Clifton says a lot of their work can go unnoticed.
“We started hearing complaints about trash being on the roadways. They just don’t know what a two-man crew does.”
He says he is blown away by the work they do.
“It’s amazing when you’re looking at the totals in poundage of trash these guys pick up yearly and it’s amazing that two guys are doing this,” says Clifton. “These guys out on the street daily, through the summer, through the wintertime, and I just wanted them to be recognized for what they do.”
Simmons says he wishes people would think twice before dumping their trash on the side of the road.
“I wish they'd not throw it out because it's a mess sometimes, but that's what we signed on to do and that's what we're gonna do,” says Simmons. “It’s got to be got to make the city a little better and that’s what me and Johnny do.”
Simmons and Chatfield say they do come across kind people who cheer them on with their horns or stop to buy them some water to say thank you.
They say they do the job because it's important to keep the city beautiful.
Mayor Randy Toms says he’s asked Warner Robins Police Chief John Wagner to ask his officers to crack down on writing tickets for people caught littering.