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 5000 miles since I started doing this in May 2013; mile 5000 was reached on 12/23/20. I am now on my seventh 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
Purse with deposit slips
Purse with Visa card
Money ($100 bill + $20 bill, $5 bill, coins)
Money (1/2 of a $20 bill -- worth $9.98?)
SECU gift card
Cell phone (modern iPhone)
Cell phone
Lexus key fob
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
School ID x 2 (one local, one from Arizona)
"The Joint chiropractic" key tag
Name tags
School bags x 2
Dog tags (rabies and ID) x 3
Dog tag (ID) x 1
Scattered mail discarded from Heritage South homeowner's mailbox by a thief
Flags x 5
Security tag
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].)
Eyeglasses, sunglasses (usually broken)
Cups and Thermos bottles
Small knapsack
Key with blue tag: S. Nelson
Display unit for bicycle wireless odometer/speedometer
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 bar, punches, files,
inserts for socket wrenches, 13" circular saw blade, pocketknife, etc.)
Rolls of tape (painters, duck, electrical, vinyl, etc.)
Power belts x 4 (unused) -- I took them to the Wake Forest Public Utilities facility
Truck tiedown straps x many
Latch pins (large and small) x many
Large RVPD traffic cones x 2 found in the bushes by the Heritage Clubhouse parking lot
The Rolesville police retrieved them after I called
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 Lead balancing weights for tires Shoes, gloves, and other clothing Buckets (large and small), paint cans Metal sink in greenway woods 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, 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 Abandoned/discarded signs, e.g., political or real estate Heavy wire mesh section (2' x 3') partially shredded by cars 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 (many, including the hard plastic kind) (However I don't pick up cigarette butts along Rogers Rd.) E-cigarette pieces (vaping trash) Car parts (hubcaps, tire rims, spark plugs, seat covers, lug nuts, etc.) Car crash debris x 6 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 44 metal canisters for N2O 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) Plastic drink bottles used as chewing tobacco spittoons (filled) x many ETC. ETC. ETC.
Actions
Reported as appropriate to NC DOT, H2 HOA, Town (Wake Forest or Rolesville), PSNC, N&O, etc.
Damaged PSNC test station x 2 (once by snow plow, once by DOT mower) -- no gas leaks
Dead deer by Rogers Rd. x 4
Potholes on Rogers Rd. x 5
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
Light pole globe about to fall off
Sewer overflow in Clubhouse parking lot
Vandalism x many, e.g., playgrounds, monuments, traffic signs, pond, piers
Intentional culvert blockage x 2
Reports to HOA of things needing maintenance
Newspaper deliveries to gutters and streets
Trail fence rails broken x 5
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
Large plastic pallet by trail
Carcass of vehicle in creek (kid's electric four-wheeler?)
Large metal "Sidewalk Closed" sign found buried in the greenway woods
I took it to the Wake Forest Public Utilities facility
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)
