The 2009 Great American Cleanup Starts Today
Are you looking for a community, environmental project for your family? Keep America Beautiful is launching its 2009 Great American Cleanup today with its campaign “Green Starts Here”.
The Great American Cleanup begins today with a national launch event in Waveland, Miss., which will help restore a hurricane-ravaged town along the Gulf Coast. It will continue through May 31 with additional national events being held in New York City on Earth Day and Nashville on May 14.
Millions of volunteers will work to rid streets, waterways and public spaces of litter and illegal dumpsites. Communities will green up parks, schoolyards and other public spaces and hold recycling drives and educational events.
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Says Matthew McKenna, president and CEO of Keep America Beautiful:
“For each of the millions of volunteers nationwide, ‘green’ starts with his or her decision to help clean up a local park, an abandoned building lot, a community garden or any of the thousands of sites across the country where volunteers work to improve the community. We’re reminding our friends and our neighbors that ‘Green Starts Here,’ but the impact we create as individuals goes beyond our own community.”
This year, 3 million volunteers are expected to get involved by participating in 30,000 community improvement activities and educational workshops in 17,000+ communities.
The 2008 Great American Cleanup removed over 86 million pounds of litter and debris and 15,200 junk cars from America’s landscape. Some 6,500 illegal dumpsites were cleaned up. The program improved over 144,000 miles of roadway; 91,000 acres of parks and public lands; 7,000 miles of rivers, lakes and shorelines; and 6,000 miles of hiking, biking and nature trails.
Last year’s recycling efforts resulted in reclaiming 186 million plastic (PET) bottles; 1.4 million tires; 10.2 million pounds of aluminum and steel; 5.3 million pounds of electronics; 137,000 batteries; 37.1 million pounds of newsprint; and 5.2 million pounds of clothing.
For more info, visit Keep America Beautiful online.
Image courtesy of www.freephoto1.com.
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