There’s been a lot of talk lately about the perceived trash and litter problem in Troup County. We’ve received numerous letters to the editor, and we’ve printed many of them, giving the opinions of our readers, who are frustrated by the amount of trash they see near numerous roadways.

We get it. Trash not only makes our city look unclean, but it doesn’t send the message we want visitors to see.

All of us want visitors — and potential newcomers to our county — to see a clean area, not a place where there’s trash all over the place.

The truth is, even if the cities and county had hundreds of people picking up trash every day, there would still be a litter problem somewhere in our county. We wish everyone had pride in where they lived and wouldn’t litter, but we know the trash problem isn’t going anywhere.

One hundred years from now, people will still be littering, and someone else will still have to pick it up. And that problem is happening everywhere. It isn’t just in unincorporated Troup County, LaGrange, Hogansville or West Point. Every community in the world has to deal with trash beside roadways.

So what’s the solution? The truth is that there isn’t a perfect one. We wouldn’t have this problem if everyone would pick up after themselves and throw away trash instead of tossing it out the window as they drive.

Trash is always going to be an issue. The response to the trash is what determines how clean our cities and county are.

So, how can we all help with this problem? In a perfect world, we’d all pick up after ourselves.  Not everybody will though, so what if we all did our part by picking up some trash when we’re out walking?  We’re sure that would take a chunk out of the litter problem taking place in parts of Troup County.