Great American Cleanup ™
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Keep America Beautiful's Great American Cleanup, the nation's largest community improvement program, takes place annually from March 1 through May 31, involving an estimated 3 million volunteers and attendees. The hardworking volunteers donated more than 5.2 million hours in 2009 to clean, beautify and improve more than 32,000 communities during more than 30,000 events in all 50 states and beyond. Activities included beautifying parks and recreation areas, cleaning seashores and waterways, handling recycling collections, picking up litter, planting trees and flowers, and conducting educational programs and litter-free events.
Keep Akron Beautiful participates in the Great American Cleanup by organizing Clean Up Akron Week, planting the 41 flowerscapes annually, recruiting volunteers to participate in the Adopt-A-Site Program, and conducting environmental education programs such as Arbor Day.
Check out the amazing difference that the Great American Cleaup made across the United States last year!
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EVENTS / VOLUNTEERS |
|
|
Volunteers/participants |
3 million |
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Volunteer hours |
5.2 million |
|
Communities involved/events |
32,000/30,000 |
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CLEANUPS |
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Litter & debris collected (lbs) |
64 million |
|
Roads, streets & highways cleaned/beautified (miles) |
102,000 |
|
Parks & public lands cleaned (acres) |
95,000 |
|
Hiking, biking & nature trails cleaned (miles) |
7,800 |
|
Playgrounds & community recreation areas cleaned/restored/constructed |
3,200 |
|
Rivers, lakes & shoreline cleaned (miles) |
8,800 |
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Underwater cleanups conducted |
82 |
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Wetlands cleaned & improved (acres) |
10,200 |
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Illegal dump sites cleaned |
4,750 |
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REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE |
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Clothing collected for reuse (lbs) |
4.5 million |
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Aluminum & steel recycled (lbs) |
14.5 million |
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Newspaper recycled (lbs) |
36.4 million |
|
Tires collected |
870,000 |
|
Batteries collected |
102,000 |
|
Electronics recycled (lbs) |
6.9 million |
|
PET (plastic) bottles collected |
243 million |
|
Junk cars removed/collected for recycling |
12,300 |
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BEAUTIFICATION |
|
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Trees planted |
157,000 |
|
Gardens, xeriscapes & green space areas created & improved |
6,400 |
|
Residential and commercial buildings painted/renovated/built |
1,800 |
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Graffiti removal, sites abated |
15,600 |
|
Flowers & bulbs planted |
2.3 million |
|
|
|
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EDUCATION |
|
|
Educational workshops |
9,400 |
|
Educational workshop attendees (total) |
655,000 |
|
Adults/Children: |
160,000/494,000 |
|
General awareness events held |
2,900 |
|
General awareness event attendees |
4.2 million |
