Among Northwest Arkansas’s several exciting qualities is its cleanliness in most of its towns. Streets, parks, work areas, and homes are always litter-free, which may be surprising yet appealing to many visitors. Why?
NWA is so clean because people respect the outdoors. Residents have an instilled sense of understanding of the space, so they won’t do anything to blemish it. Moreover, there are several recycling places to discard anything from small plastic bottles to big electronics.
Despite the burst of engaging activities in NWA, it’s delightful that inhabitants are still conscious of its squeaky-clean nature, so continue reading this article to understand why.
Video:
People Respect the Outdoors
The foremost reason behind NWA’s cleanliness is the residents’ genuine understanding and respect for the outdoor space. Hence, people aren’t throwing trash on trails but taking them out whenever there’s an event here.
Sometimes, when people go to outdoor spaces, they’re not the nicest and they use and abuse the space.
Contrarily, people pick up their trash around here if there are biking, hiking, or running races. There are trash cans everywhere to dispose of junk, but residents even put them in their backpacks when they can’t find any.
It’s a natural thing that we encourage here.
If you are outdoors, do not litter because it is a sacred space everyone uses, which is now the area’s overarching theme.
NWA is similar to other outdoor spaces that I’d consider “sacred” because it’s well thought of as an outdoor space.
I-49 Street Sweepers
This is a bit obscure yet exciting, but if you ever go up Interstate 49 that runs through NWA, you will always see a street sweeper along.
I know this because I go everywhere in NWA: from Fayetteville to Bella Vista to Bentonville, etc.
Hence, I believe their job is to literally go up and down I-49 on either side all year long, which amuses me when I always see them moving back and forth between the towns.
All they do while reaching the middle of I-49 is take up the trash that fell off trailers or other vehicles because there’s a lot of traffic on the route.
Therefore, you will notice how clean I-49 is whenever you’re there because the sweepers are active. It’ll take them about two to three weeks to go up and down the road and quickly restart to ensure it is always clean.
People Pick Up Trash
People that have bent the law a little bit in the area and had to do community service encourage others to pick up stuff on the I-49 roadside.
Hence, don’t be surprised if you see people partaking in such services with others taking out litter along the side of the road.
Many states do this, as it is a common practice, but it’s interesting to see it happen when people need to fill some of those hours. They go to I-49 many times, picking up some trash to ensure it’s clean, but you’ll find them with their trash bags in other areas too.
Interestingly, it’s more than just a one-time event; it often happens year-long. That doesn’t mean there’s a lot of trash, but they try to keep up to date with everything rather than letting it get out of hand.
Also, I have a 3-day itinerary that can help you decide what activities to do if you’re overwhelmed by everything Northwest Arkansas has to offer.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a foodie, a sports person, a sightseer, or want to spend quality time with your kids; I have something for you. Check out the link below to learn more:
https://www.allthingsnwa.com/3-day-itinerary-northwest-arkansas
There Are Numerous Recycling Places
Recycling is prevalent in Northwest Arkansas as numerous locations are facilitating that here.
Hence, there’s the usual recycling of small plastic objects, but there are lots of recycling places for TVs, computers, and all sorts of electronics or things you can’t throw away in a garbage can.
The cities spend a lot of time, money, and energy on them, ensuring residents don’t toss recyclable items away into the wrong place, which keeps the area clean.
Brush and Compost Drop Offs
Fayetteville, Rogers, Springdale, Bentonville, and many other NWA cities have great places to drop off your brush and compost.
Understandably, this is like recycling, but it’s more interesting because, in Fayetteville and Rogers, you can bring their stuff for composting. Then they immediately turn around and sell it as compost to others interested, like gardeners and farmers.
Hence, you can go to the cities, and they’ll have a massive pile of compost that’s incredibly cheap. A vast quantity can cost only $5-$15, and they’ll quickly put it on your car for you to take away.
Whether you want some compost, mulch, or anything like that, the cities are ready to sell to you because they’ve prepared it and are willing to give it back to other people in the area.
It’s a perfect way of getting rid of stuff rather than burning or putting it into a landfill because people need mulch and compost to promote plant life around here.
There Are Vehicle Washers
This is interesting as it somewhat goes against the notion of being an outdoor space where everything must be neat and clean because we respect it.
There are numerous maintenance vehicles around the area, from Fayetteville to Bentonville and Rogers, with extensive car washes for themselves that clean out all the maintenance vehicles.
It might seem insignificant, but it’s a big deal when your city workers bring back the trucks they’ve driven through fields or mud pits and wash on all the equipment. It keeps things nice and clean.
It looks professional and sound, like tax dollars well spent because one would want to be well represented if one lived in the city.
No one wants trucks with dirt flying everywhere. It just doesn’t look good.
They spend a lot of time and energy ensuring that things are clean and orderly because it’s just part of the area. Hence, it’d be a disservice if the tractors and bobcats looked terrible, with dirt, mud, and rocks everywhere.
They respect it like they do many things around here.
And that about wraps up this quick overview of why NWA is so clean. Next, as a follow-up read, check out my article exploring why NWA people are so healthy.
Conclusion
If you’ve ever been to Northwest Arkansas, you’ll notice its neatness from the highways. We take conscious yet distinct measures to ensure that, including the following:
- People respect the outdoors and pick up trash
- I-49 has street sweepers
- We have several recycling centers and vehicle washers
- Residents can drop off their brush and compost at designated sites
