Anti-litter campaign resurrects old strategy in Conover

CONOVER, N.C. — Shades of Burma-Shave! The signs in front of the shopping center in Conover don’t rhyme like those once placed on the side of the road by the tonsorial product company, but they do have a message: Don’t litter.

A group of volunteers from Keep Catawba County Beautiful gathered in the Kmart parking lot Thursday afternoon to plant the signs along Tenth Street.

“I think the public will find them interesting, and we think they’ll get the message,” said Henry Helton, a long-time volunteer and former chairman of Keep Catawba County Beautiful.

The individual signs don’t mean much – except Please Don’t Litter near the end of the rows – but together they offer two lessons on littering. Placed at intervals of about 20 feet, the rows facing cars coming and going proclaim:

Sandwich Wrappers / Become Trash / Trash Makes Litter / Please Don’t Litter.

Bottles & Cans / Are Valuable / Recycle / Please Don’t Litter.

Oh, and there’s the warning about North Carolina law on the last sign in both rows: $1,000 Maximum Fine.

Board members and volunteers share the idea to experiment with the old Burma-Shave advertising strategy: Give passersby something eye-catching they’ll remember.

“Everybody had a part in developing the idea,” said Christian Alberto. He works for Lee Industries and staked the signs on both sides of Tenth Street. Several cars and service vehicles came by as Jonathan Hogan, landscape services manager for the City of Hickory, handed him the wire-framed plastic squares.

“We decided to do this in a high-litter area,” Helton said. “There seems to be a lot of litter here.” He was quick to point out that the roadside trash isn’t the shopping center’s fault. He said the signs will stay in place for about four weeks, then they’ll be moved to another location.

“More people ought to be talking about litter,” said Lance Hight, Conover planning director. He was picking up trash as the signs were erected.

“Litter costs the city and the Department of Transportation,” he said. “The expense of removing litter is part of the budget.” That means litter costs taxpayers, too.

Hight is a former Keep Catawba County Beautiful board member. He’s an ardent supporter of the semi-annual Litter Sweep, a statewide event.

Litter Sweep is next month. It will be repeated in September. Helton said he hopes everyone will participate by removing litter from their property and anywhere else they find it.

“And, if you find a unique piece of litter, you could win $250 from the state,” he said.

Helton has been in the local anti-litter effort since 2004. He was the first chairman of Keep Catawba County Beautiful and one of the members who secured affiliation with the nationwide Keep America Beautiful organization.

The county group has an Adopt-A-Street program. Hickory and Claremont are participants. Helton hopes other municipalities will join.

As for the signs on Tenth Street, the group is proud of the effort and wants everyone to take a good look. They’re designed to be noticed, but not distracting.

“And they’re there for free,” Helton said. “Keep Catawba County Beautiful is paying for the signs. There is no cost to the city.”

The paper, plastic bottles, cans and other litter are what costs the public – that’s the message the organization is trying to drive home.

Burma-What?

Burma-Shave was a brushless shave cream that became the second-most popular product of its kind in the United States. In the 1950s and 1960s, the company created a roadside advertising campaign that proved as popular as the product. A series of six small signs, spaced at intervals along the highway, combined to offer a humorous rhyme. The last sign was, of course, Burma-Shave. It was highly successful, and a complete series of original signs is collectible. The original company is long gone, but the brand has been revived in the form of specialized personal-care products for men. There are a number of good web sites about the company and the roadside signs. Just follow this original series to the two key words:

Past / Schoolhouses / Take it slow / Let the little / Shavers grow / Burma-Shave.

WSOC