KKB Blog

Backpacks are filled, pencils are sharpened, and the obligatory "my first day of" pictures are taken. It can all only mean one thing - school is back! Keep Knoxville Beautiful is excited to help students, parents/guardians, and teachers incorporate sustainable practices as they start this new school year. 

At a litter cleanup, it is not uncommon to find items like plastic straws, fast food containers, plastic bottles, aluminum cans. These items make up the larger throw away society, which is the normalization of disposing of something after a single use. 

Keep Knoxville Beautiful wants to inspire your summer bucket list with ideas that don’t involve spending lots of money or creating copious amounts of waste. Instead, we want to focus on activities that encourage low waste habits, embracing the environment and natural surroundings, and enjoying the simple things in life!

This past February, members of KKB’s staff had the opportunity to travel to San Diego to attend Keep America Beautiful’s annual conference. The conference’s theme was The Power of Beauty, discussing the impacts that greenspaces have on humans and why it is important to preserve and care for the greenspaces that we have. Greenspaces impact us in a variety of ways, and we would like to share some of the major points discussed about why exactly greenspaces are so important.

Catch up on all the discussion at KKB’s 5th annual Sustainability Summit!

Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie is undoubtedly the movie of summer 2023. Barbie’s surge in popularity has also revived the conversation amongst environmentalists about the impact toy making has on the environment, because the reality is that life in plastic isn’t so fantastic.

Trees have numerous benefits – such as heat reduction, boosted mental health, a home for many kinds of wildlife, and added beauty to any community. Over the years, significantly more attention is turning towards the benefits of trees in mitigating the effects of climate change.

From July 2022 to June 2023, Keep Knoxville Beautiful has been honored to provide funding for several beautification projects around Knox County. From murals to outdoor classrooms, check out the different projects that are keeping Knoxville beautiful!

Every April 22, millions of people around the world celebrate Earth Day by planting trees, picking up litter, or making pledges to be better stewards of the environment. In 2023, with climate change an all too urgent reality, Earth Day has never felt so important or necessary.

Take a look back at the Orchids Beautification Awards from past to present, as KKB prepares for the 44th annual Orchids!

The holiday season is over, and now we are faced with the coldest months of the year. Staying warm is the highest priority for many of us, especially after such record breaking temperatures over the holiday season. Instead of cranking up the thermostat over the winter, try lowering it a degree or two and keep warm through eco-friendlier methods. Here are some tips on how to warm yourself and not the planet this winter.

Catch up on all the discussion from KKB’s fourth annual Summit!

While recycling single use plastics is great for the environment, reducing consumption of single use plastics is even better for the environment! With that in mind, we wanted to propose several eco-friendly alternatives to single use plastics to reduce our waste and keep plastic out of the landfill.

Fall is here! It is such a beautiful time of year with the leaves changing colors and the temperatures easing up from that summer heat. As we move into autumn, Keep Knoxville Beautiful would like to share some simple tips on how to fall into sustainability (forgive the pun – we couldn’t resist!)

It’s football time in Tennessee, and across town, fans are preparing for what will hopefully be an exciting football season! There are so many ways to cheer on the Vols (or your own team of choice), and whether you’re headed to Neyland or watching from home, there are also many ways to make sure that your fan experience is low waste.

Every day on the news there seems to be a new story about the widespread effects of climate change. This constancy can lead to many environmentally conscious people feeling worn out and hopeless, also known as climate change fatigue.