As we read on the website of the Wrocław branch of the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways:
Unfortunately, road users often throw food packaging, empty bottles, cups and cans out of their vehicle windows while travelling by car. Sometimes they leave rubbish on the roadside. That is why we are launching the ROAD IS NOT A LANDFILL! information campaign. We are starting on 22 April, Earth Day, which also launches the World Cleanup initiatives.
The road administrator adds:
We want to show road users the scale of the problem of littering roads, particularly those in the highest categories: motorways and expressways. We will point out that rubbish on the road is not only a matter of aesthetics and cleaning costs, but also the safety of road users. Each year, we spend truly large sums on cleaning, and we would like to reduce these expenses.
And adds:
The role of the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways is to build roads and maintain their surfaces. This also applies to pavements, road engineering structures, traffic safety devices and other facilities associated with the road.
An important responsibility of GDDKiA is also maintaining cleanliness within the roads it manages. Road service patrols monitor our routes around the clock. Unfortunately, during inspections we see large amounts of rubbish thrown from cars. This is not only waste “produced” during journeys, but also bulky waste and even rubble dumped within the road strip.
Irresponsible behaviour by drivers or their passengers causes objects that pose a danger to other road users to appear on the road. Plastic bottles, food packaging and beverage cans are most often thrown from cars. Remnants of torn tyres and broken wheel trims also appear on the carriageway.
It costs money!
Unfortunately, cleaning involves costs borne—there will be no surprise here—by the road administrator. GDDKiA: – Funds for maintaining national roads come from the State Treasury, and therefore from taxpayers’ pockets. It all depends on road users. It is enough for us to respect the common good and follow generally accepted cleanliness rules, just as we do in our homes.
In 2022, GDDKiA spent approximately PLN 80 million on maintaining the cleanliness of, among other things, the road strip, car parks and Traveller Service Areas. The administrator: – Even so, maintaining cleanliness on roads in just one voivodeship and in a single year can cost as much as nearly PLN 16 million! These were the costs we had to incur in the Mazowieckie Voivodeship. We incurred similarly high costs of nearly PLN 12 million in the Podlaskie Voivodeship and approximately PLN 11 million in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. The lowest costs were incurred by us—all of us—in the Opolskie Voivodeship, PLN 506,000, and in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, PLN 515,000.
And reminds us:
It is worth recalling here that the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways maintains approximately 17,800 km of national roads, and including additional carriageways, such as service roads, the total is already more than 22,000 km. The amount we will have to allocate to cleaning the roads depends on all road users.
And appeals to drivers:
Take care of your own safety, as well as that of other road users. Please throw rubbish into the specially designated waste bins located along national roads at Traveller Service Areas and car parks. Rubbish produced while driving, such as a water bottle or fast-food packaging, can be thrown away at home or when we reach our destination.