Caltrans this week is going to make a statement about litter.

Starting today, crews in Sonoma County and throughout the Bay Area will be picking up litter along highways and then piling the collection bags at safe, “strategic locations along the highways to demonstrate that litter is a continuing problem,” Caltrans said.

The highways being cleaned in Sonoma County are 12, 101 and 116 and in Napa County 29 and 221.

Last year during similar anti-litter campaigns, Caltrans crews in the Bay Area filled 8,964 bags of litter plus 146 cubic yards of large debris and 100 cubic yards of stuff scooped up by road sweepers.

After awhile, Caltrans will haul the bags to the dump.