Pearl River County’s Board of Supervisors wants to decrease littering by encouraging the next generation to take littering seriously.

District I Supervisor Donald Hart and County Administrator Adrain Lumpkin visited every elementary school in the Picayune School District Monday to distribute anti-littering coloring books created by the county.

The Board will distribute books to every elementary school in the county, said Hart. There are 10,000 copies of the coloring book that were printed with a $5,000 grant from the Lower Pearl River Valley Foundation. The county spends $250,000 a year on cleaning up litter, Hart said, and the Board wants to change the culture concerning littering, beginning with the county’s youth.

Picayune School District Superintendent Dean Shaw said he is excited about the coloring books.

“They’re a great way to educate students on the importance of not littering,” Shaw said.

Local artist Abby Chatelain created artwork for the coloring books that depicts local houses and nearby beaches. Chatelain even included a coloring page featuring a local librarian.

Chatelain and Hart are neighbors, who began talking about littering when Hart passed Chatelain as she was picking up litter in their neighborhood.

When Hart found out she was an artist, he talked with Chatelain about creating an anti-littering coloring book. The Board already discussed how much littering costs the county and the idea of changing the community’s perception of littering through a book for kids, Hart said.

The project took a year and a half to complete.