The 2011 Great American Cleanup results demonstrate the role of volunteers in reinforcing civic pride:

177 million pounds of litter and debris were removed from public lands and rights-of-way, including 177,000 acres of parks and public lands (150% increase over 2010), more than 12,000 acres of wetlands (16% increase), and 3,800 miles of hiking, biking and nature trails (12% increase).
2,800 playgrounds and community recreation areas were improved, restored or constructed.
6,400 illegal dump sites were remediated.

The Great American Cleanup encourages and emphasizes the role of recycling in recovering valuable resources, reducing energy consumption, and fostering community sustainability.

More than 290 million plastic (PET) bottles were collected for recycling, many through school-based programs. This total represents a 9% increase over 2010.
The 7.9 million pounds of electronics collected for recycling represented a 10 percent increase over 2010. Moreover, volunteers kept 13.4 million pounds of aluminum and steel out of landfills through their collection efforts.
12.1 million pounds of glass were collected for recycling, as well as more than 800,000 scrap tires.

Recognizing that green spaces and gardens contribute to better economies, healthier citizens and greater civic pride, volunteers grabbed tools and got to work:

5,600 beautification and greening projects were undertaken, with 728 edible community gardens planted or replanted.
1.5 million flowers and bulbs, and 166,000 trees were planted to create lasting beauty.
10,100 graffiti sites were remediated.

Keep America Beautiful thanks its National Sponsors for their generosity and hard work in making the Great American Cleanup possible. Notable contributions included:

For 27 years, The Glad Products Company has continued its financial and product support by donating 3.5 million GLAD® ForceFlex® and other GLAD® trash bags to organizations nationwide. Our volunteers could not clean up their communities without them.

Nestlé® Pure Life® Purified Water was the Official Bottled Water National Sponsor of the Great American Cleanup for the second year. The 25 state and local affiliates that collected the most PET bottles for recycling were each awarded $1,000 for a Nestlé® Pure Life® PET Recycling Award. Nestlé® Pure Life® also provided 3 million bottles of water to keep busy volunteers hydrated.

Returning as a third-year sponsor, Solo Cup Company donated Bare® by Solo® cups and plates – made with renewable and recycled materials – to Great American Cleanup affiliates across the country, providing an environmentally preferable alternative to traditional single-use food service products. Hundreds of Solo volunteers also created and implemented community improvement events near nine of its facilities.

In its 13th year of sponsorship, Pepsi-Cola Company once again donated soft drinks to help quench the thirst of volunteers at hundreds of events nationwide. The company also played an invaluable role in rallying volunteers, producing and distributing event posters promoting the campaign.

For the fourth consecutive year, employees from The Dow Chemical Company volunteered in 51 service projects including “trash bashes,” hazardous material collections, river, beach and bayou cleanups, tree and flower planting, recycling programs and invasive plant removal. Additionally, grants to local KAB affiliates and like-minded organizations further supported Dow’s commitment to The Great American Cleanup.

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, in its seventh year as a sponsor, launched the GRO1000 initiative, a commitment to install 1,000 gardens and green spaces in the United States and select international sites by 2018. Through this program, gardens and green spaces were established in five KAB communities, with a portion of the harvest donated to local food pantries.

Troy-Bilt® Lawn and Garden Equipment, for the 13th year, continued its in-kind support by donating equipment upon request to local organizations. The donated equipment will continue to be used in the selected communities long after the cleanups and green-ups have ended.

Waste Management (WM) has proudly supported the Great American Cleanup for the past nine years. The company enhances its sponsorship by providing essential environmental services such as recycling and waste disposal to help clean up and beautify communities across the nation. Over 100 local KAB affiliates have also benefited from WM volunteer efforts and through the award of WM Community Improvement Grants.

As a 12-year sponsor, the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co., a subsidiary of Mars, Inc., provides in-kind product donations to volunteers of Great American Cleanup events. In addition, the cast of MTV’s The Buried Life participated in the Orbit® gum “Live Clean” online consumer promotion resulting in a painted mural donated to the city of Chicago.

Exclusive consumer electronics and home appliance sponsor LG Electronics USA helped bolster the Great American Cleanup’s electronics recycling results through LG’s nationwide e-cycling program, including innovative programs during March Madness® and the NCAA® Final Four® in Houston.

As a GAC Promotional Partner, Valvoline NextGen’s “Let’s Do M.O.R.E.” (motor oil recycling education) campaign educates consumers about the importance of motor oil recycling. Valvoline supported events in 10 GAC participating organization communities and continues to donate to the broader cause with each “Let’s Do M.O.R.E.” recycling pledge on nextgenmotoroil.com resulting in a $1 contribution to Keep America Beautiful.

America’s leading companies and brands support the campaign. The Great American Cleanup was proud to welcome new National Sponsors LG Electronics U.S.A., Inc. and Lowe’s Companies, Inc. through the Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation. Returning National Sponsors were: The Dow Chemical Company; The Glad Products Company; Nestlé® Pure Life® Purified Water; PepsiCo’s Pepsi-Cola and Gatorade companies; The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company; Solo Cup Company; Troy-Bilt® Lawn and Garden Equipment; Waste Management, Inc.; and Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. Promotional Partners: Crescent Art and Framing Products, Miss America Organization and Valvoline, a division of Ashland, Inc. Educational Partners: Owens-Illinois, Inc., Rubber Manufacturers Association and WM Recycle America. Retail Promotional Partner: Colgate-Palmolive Company.

My mind is never still. And when I’m doing a Green Mile, I’m usually thinking about litter. Where it comes from. Where it’s going. Whodunnit. Why? Why does it make me feel good to pick up other people’s trash? If everyone decided to stop littering, would I actually be disappointed because there would be no trash for me to pick up? (Then I laugh because that will never happen.)

So, here I am picking up trash on Sunday. I’m on Turkey Cove Lane between Parkside Drive and the entrance into the Pinnacle 18 Movie Theaters in Turkey Creek. I notice that the gutters are more full of cigarette butts on the Calhoun’s side, not the theater side. Hmm. Why? (Heavy thinking, about 15 seconds.)That’s easy. The people turning into the theater are finishing up their cigarette and they toss it on the way into the parking lot (on the Calhoun’s side). The ones leaving just lit one. Most of them aren’t ready to toss it (on the theater side) unless the traffic is backed up. So the better the movies playing, the worse the traffic and the more cigbutts are ejected as people are leaving. See. That’s how my mind works.
Here’s another one. WHY do people throw out cigarette butts from their cars? Well, now that is easy. Do YOU have an ashtray in your car? Most cars don’t have them any more. If you have something that is on fire in your car, what are you going to do with it? Yep. Throw it out the window.

What’s the alternative? Grind it out in your lap? I don’t think so. The only thing I can think of is to email Keep Knoxville Beautiful and ask for a pocket ash tray. These are little change-purse sized containers. They are made out of plastic. They slide open to reveal a metal container where you can snuff out that butt, insert the butt and close it up. It’ll hold 6 or 8 or so. Then back in your pocket. Or in the seat next to you. What a GREAT idea. Seriously, if you are a smoker, ask us for one. And then if you like it and it makes you feel really good, think about spending 15 minutes picking up butts off the street in exchange!

Another thing I think about is what people think when they drive by and see me picking up cigbutts. Are they thinking… “Is she a DUI person doing her community service trash pick up?” “Does she collect those to reuse them in art or something?” “What can you make out of cigarette butts, anyway?” “Do you think someone is paying her to do that?” “Either that or she must be stark raving mad.” “Huh, let’s roll up the windows and lock the doors, just in case.” “Do you think she really is crazy?” “Should I throw this cigarette butt at her?” “I hope I never get like that when I’m older.” “Is she obsessed?” Or maybe, “Wow, look at how clean the streets are behind her. I never noticed how much trash we go by every day.”

Ok. That’s pretty much all that I think about while picking up mostly cigbutts on Sunday. And did I mention that I found money again? Only 3 cents this time… not together, just randomly scattered. Two of the pennies had been run over… and over… and over. So I gave those to the hubby. He likes to use uncommon coins for ball markers. I think I’m up to about 47¢ I’ve picked up while doing green miles. I’m waiting to get really lucky. It’s bound to happen.

If you are feeling left out, there’s no reason for that. YOU can be a Green Miler too. We have a few spots left in our pilot program. We’re gathering data from this group of up to 25 picker-uppers so we can fine-tune Green Miles before we introduce it to the general public in early 2012. You can join Green Miles at KeepKnoxvilleBeautiful.org

Join us on April 16th from 10-5 at Pellissippi State Community College at Hardin Valley as we learn how to Green It and Mean It at the 2011 EarthFest!

Have Mercy on our Planet!

In keeping with its Don’t Throw Down on K-Town motto, Keep Knoxville Beautiful and Mercy Health Partners are encouraging people to exchange their excess plastic shopping bags and bottles for an earth-friendly reusable cloth bag during Knoxville’s annual EarthFest on Saturday, April 16th. A study by Keep America Beautiful states that there has been 165% increase in plastic litter over the past 40 years. The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Pellissippi State Technical Community College located at 10915 Hardin Valley. Each family that brings in at least 10 plastic grocery bags or bottles will receive one large reusable earth-friendly cloth shopping bag. “Plastic bags collected at the event will be recycled,” said Keep Knoxville Beautiful Director Allison Teeters. “The bags will be turned into things like plastic lumber for use in picnic tables and benches.” Data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency suggests that somewhere between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year. Of those, millions end up in the litter stream outside of landfills-estimates range from less than one to three percent of the bags. The reusable shopping bags, made of recycled materials, are provided by Mercy Health Partners to benefit Keep Knoxville Beautiful. For questions, call the Keep Knoxville Beautiful office at 865-521-6957.

KEEP KNOXVILLE BEAUTIFUL JOINS THE “11 IN 11” CAMPAIGN WITH A SHOE DRIVE TO BENEFIT SOLES4SOULS® Inc., THE SHOE CHARITY

EarthFest is all about reducing waste through reuse or recycling. In conjunction with that effort and Keep Knoxville Beautiful’s own efforts to decrease waste in the community, we are partnering to collect shoes at EarthFest on April 16, 2011 at Pellissippi State Main Campus. We encourage everyone to bring their old shoes to this event to provide an opportunity for someone to have their first pair of shoes.

Soles4Souls Inc. has committed to collect and distribute 11 million shoes in 2011 to people living in extreme poverty and recovering from natural disasters through its “11 IN 11” campaign. The shoe charity gives away one pair of shoes to a person in need every 7 seconds. Since 2005, Soles4Souls has distributed more than 12 million pairs of shoes because of the generosity and commitment of people and organizations like Keep Knoxville Beautiful.

Soles4Souls believes partners like Keep Knoxville Beautiful will challenge others to become a force of change by helping the charity reach its aggressive but necessary “11 IN 11” goal which reflects the every-growing needs of the global community. The shoe charity recognizes its success is the result of individuals and industry partners such as Keep Knoxville Beautiful who clean out closets and warehouses so that 300 million children around the world can have their first pair of shoes.

On April 16, 2011, Keep Knoxville Beautiful will be collecting your gently worn footwear and/or donations to make a tangible difference through the gift of shoes. Every donation will support Soles4Souls’ initiative to distribute 11 million pairs of shoes in 2011.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — ‘Tis the season to be jolly, and unfortunately, to toss also out a lot of trash.

In the period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, American households generate 25% more waste. That’s about 1 million extra tons of trash each year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

That includes everything from food to wrapping paper, holiday decorations, packaging, and old cellphones and laptops that are unceremoniously dumped as soon as the latest models emerge from under the Christmas tree.

“The holiday season is especially important for us because all of the festivities, gift giving and traveling does create a lot more waste than at other times of the year,” said Jennifer Berry, spokeswoman with Scottsdale, Arizona-based Earth911.

“People get so caught up in the fun that they forget about the environmental impact of these activities,” said Berry.

Earth911 provides local resources about recycling centers as well as tips on how to recycle and pollution prevention. It has a large network of over 127,000 programs nationwide.

Linda Gabor, vice president of marketing for Call2Recycle, which operates a free rechargeable battery and cell phone collection program in North America says that during this season of giving, people should also give some thought to the waste they create.

“After all the gifts are opened on Christmas, this is one last gift that people can give each other that doesn’t require any ribbons or bows,” said Gabor. “Cut down on trash, recycle and and properly dispose your garbage.”

Despite the annual surge in waste during the holidays, Gabor and Berry are encouraged by the recent trends.

In 2008, Americans generated about 250 million tons of trash and recycled and composted 83 million tons of this material, at about a 33.2% percent recycling rate, according to the latest available data from the EPA.
0:00 /1:56Plastic bottles to pet beds

The agency said the nation’s recycling rate has remained fairly steady in the past few years.

Also, Gabor said her company’s collection of rechargeable batteries and cell phones through programs it runs with retailers such as RadioShack and Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500) is up double digits in 2010 over last year.

“This shows that when people are shopping for toys or gadgets, they are taking that extra step and bringing in their old batteries and cellphones for recycling,” Gabor said.

Said Berry, “Recycling is really the most accessible way for consumers to participate in sustainability.”

Here are a few simple ways to reduce your holiday waste:

* Christmas trees: Many people think they are helping the environment by not buying a real Christmas tree. Not true, said Berry. “There are 500,000 acres of farmland in North America dedicated to Christmas trees,” she said. “When you buy a real tree, you are buying it from one of these farms and not from a national forest.” Also, for every tree that’s cut down, the farmer will plant three to four new trees. “So you are not contributing to deforestation,” she said.

After Christmas, it’s important to properly dispose of your tree. Tree recycling programs vary from state to state. The mulch from the recycled tree has many uses, Berry said. You can take it back to your house and use it in your backyard. It’s also used in community pathways in parks and in playgrounds. Additionally, Christmas trees are being used on beachfronts as part of erosion protection measures.

* At parties: Lots of leftover food winds up in the trash. Instead, stock up on doggy bags and send leftovers home with the guests. Also, Berry suggests holiday party hosts set up a recycling bin right next to the trash bin to make it convenient for people to separate the garbage from the recycling.
* When gift wrapping: Most of us probably don’t realize that the cute shiny wrapping paper is generally not recyclable. It contains dyes and other difficult-to-process additives. Eco-friendly wrapping paper is a better option although it is more expensive that regular wrapping paper, said Berry. Other common-sense tips — bunch gifts together and use one sheet of wrapping paper. “Old maps or book pages are other creative solutions that don’t look tacky,” she said.
* When traveling: Many environmentally-conscious holiday travelers already participate in programs that let them use their air miles to offset their carbon footprint. But for those who don’t participate, Berry has other tips. “We consume a lot of products en route, such as bottled water, soda, chips and we simply throw these away in the trash at the airport,” she said. Some carriers have in-flight recycling programs. But if they don’t, simply carry your trash with you and put it in a recycling bin at the airport, if there is one, or once you get home.
* Holiday lights: Always recycle your old Christmas lights. Berry said consumers can find several resources on how to do that through her company or by simply doing a little research.

I just returned from the garden dedication to Martha H. Ashe, mother of former Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe at the Knoxville Botanical Garden. The information that I gathered during the speeches was very moving. I found out that in the 1950s, Martha Ashe would have her sons Keep Knoxville Beautiful by picking up trash on their way home every day.

To say that beauty and community pride was important would be an understatement. She apparently literally swept Gay Street with a group of friends.

It seems that Ms. Ashe was the quintessential pioneer and advocate for our community. We can all have an impact…it just involves remembering that home is beyond your front door.

No Kidding: City wants Goats to get rid of Kudzu

Food Recycling Law A Hit In San Francisco : NPR