It is time for the Great American Cleanup!  The 2019 Great American Cleanup starts in a couple of weeks in Liberty County. Keep America Beautiful, the nation’s leading environmental education nonprofit, will launch the 21st annual Great American Cleanup this spring. The Great American Cleanup is the country’s largest community improvement program. It kicks off with more than 4 million volunteers in more than 20,000 communities. In Liberty County, we participate in this national effort each year because we know how important a clean community is for our quality of life. Across America, communities like ours, will recruit volunteers to engage in litter cleanups, to beautify parks, trails and recreation areas, to clean shorelines and waterways, to reduce waste and increase recycling, and to remove litter and debris.

Strangely, litter increases in several circumstances. Periods of events, like hurricanes and ice storms, the holiday season, and even economic upswings with more construction, can show evidence of increased litter. The Great American Cleanup (GAC) is one of our efforts to fight litter where it happens.  GAC is our crazy notion that we as a community clean up after ourselves.

Volunteer efforts can have a powerful effect on our community. Keep America Beautiful cleanup programs help to create communities that are socially connected, environmentally healthy, and economically sound. During the Great American Cleanup, the value of volunteer work across the nation averages $175 million in measurable benefits annually in Keep America Beautiful communities.

Many national sponsors, including Dow, The Glad Products Company, Lowe’s, Troy-Bilt® Lawn and Garden Equipment and Waste Management, help make annual Great America Cleanup events possible, but we particularly appreciate our local partners for our local cleanups. Many of our local cities partner with Keep Liberty Beautiful to provide appreciation picnics for volunteers after each citywide cleanup. Also, over 100 businesses, cities, churches, civic organizations, schools, and youth groups – as well as individuals – partner with Keep Liberty Beautiful to make our community cleaner and more attractive each year. These volunteer groups have a vision for our community: it should be litter-free, attractive, and healthy. These Great American Cleanup activities continue to move us toward that future.

If you would like to participate in a Great American Cleanup, KLB can help you schedule a neighborhood or group cleanup on a day that works for you. KLB provides all the cleanup supplies (garbage bags, safety vests, work gloves, and even litter reachers), water, and arrangements for cleanup locations. We also provide official great American Cleanup t-shirts to all registered volunteers.

Picking up the litter is important, but the powerful statement that local citizens make by participating in these efforts is even more valuable. It makes it clear to other citizens that litter is NOT acceptable. That message will mean more to someone who litters than any ‘Do Not Litter’ sign ever will. These events coupled with our Adopt Liberty adopt-a-road cleanups are our most effective teaching tools to fight litter. So, join us in making a statement about who we are as a community.

To register your group or neighborhood for a cleanup, contact Keep Liberty Beautiful at 912-880-4888, or klcb@libertycountyga.com. Make a difference where you live, work and play. Remember those other four million national volunteers will be counting on you, too!