ROCKFORD — Light-hearted signs that urge people not to litter have sprung up around downtown in high pedestrian traffic areas and in places where people are known to dump garbage.

"Why are you littering?" the sign asks.

The possible answers listed include: "I am a jerk," "I don't care about Rockford," "Someone else can clean up after me," or "All of the above."

Public Works Director Kyle Saunders said officials decided to manufacture the signs in-house and post 10 of them around town after being sent a photo of a similar sign that had been spotted by members of a neighborhood association while in another Illinois city.

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The group asked if Rockford would consider putting similar signs up. Saunders said he loved the idea. Public Works staff got immediately to work making the signs in the city sign shop and posting them in strategic areas where there have been littering complaints.

Cleaning up after people who can't be troubled to throw garbage into a trash can, or worse, who dump tires, televisions and garbage in secluded areas of the city, takes Public Works employees away from their other duties like pothole patching and city maintenance, Saunders said.

"Obviously, a lot more goes into curtailing littering than just putting up a sign," Saunders said. "We are hoping that at least that message is planted in somebody’s head and maybe it will change the behavior of that person. Even if you can alter the behavior of a few, that hopefully could result in keeping our city cleaner. "

Pam Osborne of Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful said her organization was not involved with the creation of the signs. She applauds the city drawing attention to the problem of littering, which not only makes the city dirty but also contaminates waterways and oceans while forcing Public Works to devote time to cleaning up after scofflaws.

But Osborne said Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful avoids the negative direction of the messaging. Osborne said the challenge is to convince people to recycle and not to litter who don't know how to do it or don't understand its importance.

"We don’t do it in a way that puts people down," Osborne said. "We always try to go down a positive road if we can."

A Rockford Register Star reporter since 2005, Jeff Kolkey writes about city government, politics, trends in the Rockford region and more. He is a Rockford resident, a married father of two and a White Sox fan. He can be reached at  (815) 987-1374, via email at jkolkey@rrstar.com and on Twitter @jeffkolkey.