As part of the annual Keep America Beautiful™ Great American Cleanup®, the Keep Arkansas Beautiful Commission (KAB) is helping volunteers in every county organize and promote local cleanup and beautification events that will #MakeArkansasGreen.

According to a press release, The Great American Cleanup in Arkansas – and the #MakeArkansasGreen challenge – is a call-to-action to volunteers to organize at least one cleanup event in each of the state’s 75 counties during March, April and May. Cleanup events should focus on enhancing a community’s public spaces – such as roadsides, waterways, parks and neighborhoods – by picking up litter and debris, planting flowers, removing bulky waste, recycling materials and improving overall appearance.

“Littering is illegal in Arkansas, and it is ugly and unhealthy. We want Arkansans to no longer tolerate littered places,” said Liz Philpott, KAB’s volunteer program manager and statewide cleanup coordinator. “KAB is committed to fostering behavior change and new attitudes to make littering socially unacceptable. We advance change through volunteer activities and educational outreach about the negative impacts on a community that isn’t litter-free. The #MakeArkansasGreen challenge during the Great American Cleanup in Arkansas is a key initiative to engage and inspire Arkansans toward better habits.”

Each week beginning in April, KAB will post to its social media platforms a #MakeArkansasGreen map of the counties where a cleanup is registered. Arkansans can follow along on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to track the #MakeArkansasGreen campaign’s success. During the 2017 Great American Cleanup in Arkansas, volunteers registered events in 52 counties.

Communities and groups are invited to sign up to organize a local cleanup at http://bit.ly/2018GAC. KAB will provide local events with trash bags, T-shirts and other supplies, as long as those supplies last. Volunteers can find local cleanups on the calendar of events at KeepArkansasBeautiful.com. The Great American Cleanup in Arkansas runs March through May.

2018 marks the 20th year of Keep America Beautiful’s Great American Cleanup; last year alone, volunteers picked up nearly 186 million pounds of litter and debris in communities across the country. During last year’s Great American Cleanup in Arkansas, 6,153 volunteers picked up nearly 135,000 pounds of litter and collected 6.9 million pounds of bulky waste from 725 miles of roadside and 156 miles of waterway. Volunteers also cleaned up 10,000+ acres of parks and public areas and recycled nearly 300,000 pounds of electronics.

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