Litter Found around Heritage South
Last Updated: Jeffrey Knauth jeff@jgkhome.name
These are the litter pick-up routes I take around Heritage South three or more days each week. I have walked over 8000 miles since I started doing this in May 2013; mile 8000 was reached on 5/15/25. I am now on my tenth pair of work boots and my second staff.
Here are pictures of SOME of the litter picked up in the roads and gutters and along the greenway/creeks and around the ponds over the years. Listed below are some of the more interesting items I have found.
If I find something which looks valuable and doesn't have any owner identification on it, I put a post on Nextdoor Lost & Found. I also notify the HOA Community Manager if Nextdoor doesn't result in an answer. So far I have been able to find the owners for most of those items. If no one makes a claim and the item seems particularly valuable, I take it to either the Wake Forest or Rolesville police, depending on where I found it.
For a clothing item (except all those things found on or along Rogers Rd.), I try to hang it on a bush, mailbox, etc., near where I found it on the ground. Each spring I donate the current collection of balls, darts, and hockey pucks to the Wake Forest Boys and Girls Club.
Several times a year I take some of the found things to the Deponie Drive recycling center, e.g., hazardous waste such as oil and brake fluid containers (often still having contents), electronic parts such as broken cell phone circuit boards, metal scrap, etc.
Most of the nails and other metal items were found along interior Heritage streets, often near lots that were being developed, or more frequently nowadays along or in Rogers Road. Fishing gear was found around the ponds. Balls, foam darts, etc. were usually in gutters, although many had washed down into the greenway. I average collecting one or two bags of trash plus a bag of recyclable items each day. Most of the recyclable items (many beverage cans and bottles) come from the south side of Rogers Road (the part of that road I usually cover, although occasionally I do the north side, too); some come from the more heavily traveled interior Heritage streets.
In my early years here I saw newspapers were often not delivered properly. I found them (sometimes waterlogged and/or pulverized) in streets, gutters, drain grates, and catch basins. This is now much less of a problem, maybe because there are fewer delivered newspapers nowadays.
Below are some things I have found so far
Valuable, Useful, or Unusual
Wallet with credit card
Wallet with credit cards and money
wallet with driver license and money
Purse with deposit slips
Purse with Visa card
Large blue bag/purse with name info, but no address (theft throwaway?)
Large brown bag and small blue bag (theft throwaway?)
Small blue purse, well rotted, no valuables inside (theft throwaway?)
Money ($100 bill + $20 bill, $5 bill, coins)
Money (1/2 of a $20 bill -- worth $9.98?) (x 2, but different serial numbers and locations)
Coastal Credit Union Go Green debit card
CapitalOne Visa card (Venture)
Neighbor's Visa card
$25 Visa "Vanilla" gift card -- no ID
SECU gift card
Cell phone (modern iPhone)
Cell phone (I didn't note the brand)
Cell phone (OtterBox) in grass by Rogers Rd,
Cell phone (brand not visible) appeared to be broken, in grass by Rogers Rd,
Lexus key fob
Audi key fob
Unknown-type key fob (smashed by Rogers Road traffic)
Flash drive
PBA card
Humana card
GEHA (United Healthcare) health insurance ID card
PDQ card
Town of Rolesville fleet credit card of "PW equipment"
Employee badge -- Ale House
Employee badge -- Duke Power
Employee badge -- Heritage Golf Club
Employee badge -- Publix
School ID x 2 (one local, one from Arizona)
A kid's school ID tag (bus tag?) x 2
Rolesville High School car tag
Rolesville High School off campus lunch pass
"The Joint chiropractic" key tag
Name tags
School bags x 2
Dog tags (rabies and ID) x 3
Dog tag (ID) x 4
Scattered mail discarded from Heritage South homeowner's mailbox by a thief
Four unopened Social Security envelopes by Rogers Rd.
Flags x 5
Security tag
Table number tags x 3
Arizona driver license card (expired)
NC car registration card (expired)
Kid's jacket by Rogers Rd. (I hung it on a TWC pedestal for a month, but no one took it.
I then put it in a Simple Recycling orange bag [Wake Forest clothing donation program].)
Kid's jacket by Rogers Road. It looked very new. (I hung it on a bush. No one retrieved
it after over a week, so I took it to the Rolesville Police Department for them to hold
for a while, then donate if not claimed.)
Two kid's jackets (one pink and one tan). Turned in to Rolesville police after Nextdoor post.
Kid's pants and belt in Clubhouse parking lot. I left on playground gate post for three weeks,
but no one took them. Now put in shopping center clothing bin.
Kid's shoes x two pairs (Put in shopping center clothing bin.)
Wounded Warriors blanket by Rogers Road. I hung it on a TWC pedestal for about
three weeks. No one took it. Now put in shopping center clothing bin.
Blue jacket by Rogers Road -- had name Ray at 6 & Heating and Cooling.
I hung it on utility line warning post and messaged the company; they replied and retrieved it
Eyeglasses, sunglasses (usually broken)
Cups and Thermos bottles
Small knapsack
Key with blue tag: S. Nelson
Display unit for bicycle wireless odometer/speedometer
Large combination lock, looks like a door lock used by a realtor
Bose speaker
Blue "Best Buy" notebook (8.5" x 5.5"), no ID, plumbing contractor's notes?
Large magnetic sign (24" x 12") for drywall installation company; no reply to my email
Balls (tennis, base, soft, foot, volley, ping pong, basket, golf, lacrosse, wiffle, etc.)
Soft darts, discs, and hockey pucks
Fishing gear (hooks, bobbers, lures, lead sinkers, spools of line, nets, etc.)
Tools (pliers, wrenches, scissors, screwdrivers, putty knives, wrecking bars, punches, files,
inserts for socket wrenches, 13" circular saw blade, pocketknife, box cutters, etc.)
Rolls of tape (painters, duck, electrical, vinyl, warning, etc.)
Power belts x 4 (unused) -- I took them to the Wake Forest Public Utilities facility
Truck tiedown straps, usually with metal hooks x *MANY*
Latch pins (large and small) x many
Lever load binder (metal lever with two hooked chains attached) -- weighs over 5 pounds
Large RVPD traffic cones x 2 found in the bushes by the Heritage Clubhouse parking lot
The Rolesville police retrieved them after I called
Twelve large traffic cones and a shopping cart found in the Rolesville greenway
Four traffic cones found around Heritage South streets and parking lots
Oil dip stick
Rake and parts of its broken handle, probably broken by Rogers Rd. car(s)
Yamaha motorcycle owner's manual in a plastic bag together with a key -- gave to Wake Forest PD
Large cushion, ripped with stuffing coming out
Large pad with many completed drawings
Trash (often alongside or in Rogers Rd.)
Paper, plastic, fast food containers/wrappers, cans, bottles, bags, clothespins, cardboard, pasteboard, weed wacker wire, etc. Nails, screws, washers, bolts, nuts, heavy wire, edger blades, misc. metal scrap Dozens of roofing nails (inch long with blue plastic collar) -- top of Evening Snow St. catch basin Lead balancing weights for tires Shoes, gloves, and other clothing Buckets (large and small), paint cans Metal sink in greenway woods Broken glass beer bottles in streets and gutters x many Broken fluorescent light tubes in gutter These are hazardous waste items and should not have been put in trash bins to begin with. See the Town of Wake Forest's Waste Wizard. (click on the "Wizard" icon in the bottom section and enter "fluorescent bulb" in the search field.) Some tubes fall out of the bins, break (or were broken to begin with), and become many small glass slivers plus mercury from the tube. Whole or broken printed circuit boards, e.g., from broken cell phones Batteries -- from small to very large, both dry cells and lithium rechargeables Coax cables and connectors (cable TV) Towels, washcloths, shower caps, paint rags Fireworks debris, sometimes unexploded Fliers (ads) not put in cubbyholes, e.g., just "distributed" on the ground Balloon pieces and whole balloons (inflated and deflated) Broken toys x many Abandoned/discarded signs, e.g., political or real estate Heavy wire mesh section (2' x 3') partially shredded by cars into 1" shrapnel Large metal framework of some sort, run over by cars Three bent metal flashing strips: 29 by 4 inches, run over by cars Many metal bristles for street cleaner brushes Large headphones smashed to pieces by cars Plastic pipes: one about 10 feet long, one smashed to pieces by cars Cornice boards: two about 10 feet long Fireplace igniters Cigarette butts x many I stopped picking up the Rogers Road non-plastic ones long ago I do pick up all cigarette butts of any type inside Heritage South and on the greenway E-cigarette vaping trash containing lithium batteries; often thrown in grass for lawnmowers to hit Car parts (hubcaps, tire rims, spark plugs, seat covers, lug nuts, plastic and metal trim, etc.) Car crash debris (from 17 wrecks so far) For one wreck I asked the Town of Rolesville to pick up some huge pieces that ended up back in the Rolesville greenway, but they are still there and very visible in the fall and winter. Another wreck left hundreds of large and small plastic pieces in the rightmost lane of Rogers Road near the Provision Place intersection (beside The Courtyards at Heritage Grove). I didn't see any blood or dead deer, the most frequent cause of the crashes I have picked up after. I suspect the most recent (Jan 2025) accident was a result of snow/ice on Rogers Rd. Insulated wire scraps Elastic hair bands Ear plugs Mop handles Tennis racket cover Broken helmets Kitchen utensiles, e.g., forks, pots Containers of hazardous waste A batch of 44 metal canisters for N2O (many more found in smaller groups since that big 44 batch) Glucose monitoring system (FreeStyle Libre 14-Day) -- broken screen Hypodermic syringes Diapers (loaded) x many Dog waste bags (both loaded and empty) x many Wads of gum Garbage bags (full of garbage) Unbagged garbage strewn along both sides of Rogers Road (filled four bags) Plastic drink bottles used as chewing tobacco spittoons (filled) x many -- pretty disgusting Razor blades Landscaper trash thrown down the Evening Snow hillside in one long pile: 19 plastic bottles (many filled with urine), 1 glass bottle, 2 cans, 5 engine oil containers (more or less empty), a pretty full reel of weedwacker wire, and some paper trash 600+ Q-tips thrown around and ground into Marshall Farm traffic circle pavement Fiberboard siding strips; two bags full strewn along the road ETC. ETC. ETC.
Actions
Reported as appropriate to NC DOT, Heritage South HOA, Town (Wake Forest or Rolesville),
Dominion Energy (PSNC), Ting Internet, Wake Electric, N&O, etc. -- sometimes
via SeeClickFix. Most problems were fixed promptly by the responsible parties.
Damaged PSNC test station x 2 (once by snow plow, once by DOT mower) -- no gas leaks
Dead deer by Rogers Rd. x 13
Potholes on Rogers Rd. x 13 (usually the same two, which reappear each year)
Rogers Rd. sidewalk repair needed -- slab end uplifted by 2"
Deep, wide gullies along south side of Rogers Rd. x 3
Tires x 8 (three by Rogers Rd., two in creek, one behind townhouse bushes, two by trail)
Downed street signs at Fawn Lily (east)/Albino Deer/Shasta Daisy x 2
Missing street sign at Fawn Lily (west)/Shasta Daisy
Missing street sign at Fawn Lily (east)/Shasta Daisy
Speed limit sign broken, by Rogers Rd. (x 2)
Light pole globe about to fall off
Sewer overflow in Clubhouse parking lot x 2
Vandalism x many:
Playgrounds, monuments, traffic signs, pond, piers, greenway trail, fences, tables,
boardwalks, amphitheater deck
Intentional culvert blockage x 2
Reports to HOA of things needing maintenance
Newspaper deliveries to gutters and streets
Trail fence rails broken x 7
Trail signage and boardwalk problems
Large construction sign for trail extension, not removed by contractor
Large lane closure sign/stand forgotten by construction crew on Rogers Rd.
License plate found by Rogers Rd.
Downed and bent "Adopt a Highway" sign, broken dolly, broken chair by Rogers Rd.
Flood-scoured areas by culverts and bench floated away by high water
Large plastic pallet by trail
Carcass of vehicle in creek (kid's electric four-wheeler?)
Kid's Blue Razor scooter in greenway, thrown far off boardwalk
Large metal "Sidewalk Closed" sign found buried in the greenway woods
I took it to the Wake Forest Public Utilities facility
Open Ting handholes and cabinets
Knocked over CenturyLink pedestal
Traffic light problems x 1
Returned to Walgreens manager with complaint:
Walgreen cartons x 2 -- several very large cardboard cartons each time
(they apparently fell off Walgreen's hired trash truck)
