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Corporate Social Responsibility
News
10.20.2005 ET
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Keep America Beautiful's Great American Cleanup™ Breaks Records, Sets Standards for Creative Community & Corporate Partnerships
Volunteers' efforts result in $135 Million in Value to Community Improvement Initiatives
(CSRwire) STAMFORD, Conn. - In an era when many are seeking ways to connect
with their communities and "make a difference," Keep America Beautiful's
Great American Cleanup™ has once again proven itself as a vibrant and
diverse platform for improving neighborhoods through clean-ups, green-ups,
fix-ups, educational programs, and heightened awareness of the value of
clean, green, communities. Celebrating its 20th year, the Great American
Cleanup™ is the nation's largest community improvement program.
A grassroots army of 2.45 million volunteers, supported by creative
corporate partnerships, mobilized nationwide between March and May 2005.
The official results, announced today by Great American Cleanup™
Managing Director Gail Cunningham, shattered existing records, and
far-exceeded the expectations of organizers and sponsors.
Across America, volunteers removed over 208 million pounds of litter and
debris, an all-time record, and a 39 percent increase over 2004's total.
Equally impressive is the dollar value of volunteer hours logged during
the event. Great American Cleanup™ volunteers worked 7.85 million
hours, which translates into a contribution of nearly $135 million in
wages and significantly lessens the financial and organizational burden on
local and state governments.
This massive effort - totaling 30,000 events in 15,000 communities -
produced remarkable results in improving communities through "reduce,
reuse, recycle" programs, beautification, and hands-on experiential
education This year's Great American Cleanup results highlights
include:
Filling 4 million donated GLAD® ForceFlex™ Trash Bags with
over 120 million pounds of litter
Collecting 2.1 million scrap tires for recycling, through a joint
program with Firestone Complete Auto Care stores
Planting over 4.3 million flowers, bulbs and trees
Collecting 21 million pounds of aluminum and steel for recycling,
more than doubling the 2004 total;
Collecting 57 million pounds of newspaper for recycling, a fourfold
increase from the 2004 total;
Nearly doubling the miles of roads, street and highways cleaned to
176,000;
Cleaning 10,250 miles of rivers, lakes and shorelines - a 58%
increase;
The first-ever power-washing of Mount Rushmore, resulting in a
drastic improvement of this iconic National Memorial;
More than doubling the number of graffiti abatement/removal sites to
16,000;
Cleaning 3,800 illegal dump sites, a 46 percent improvement from
2004;
Painting, renovating and building 2,815 commercial and residential
buildings, more than double the 2004 total;
Cleaning 51,000 acres of parks and public lands - a 58% increase;
and
Holding 4,500 educational workshops, that reached an estimated
403,000 participants.
For the third consecutive year, President George W. Bush served as
Honorary Chair of the Great American Cleanup™. Mrs. Laura Bush
joined him as Honorary Chair.
In the Great American Cleanup™, Keep America Beautiful works with
national sponsors and local community-based organizations to address areas
of greatest need. Keep America Beautiful credits this corporate/grassroots
partnership with the record-breaking success of the event.
For example, national sponsors generously donated essential resources and
in-kind products and services to the effort. The Glad Products Company
donated a total of 6 million GLAD® ForceFlex™ bags nationwide. Waste
Management, Inc. provided a battalion of heavy equipment and manpower to
remove illegal dump sites and facilitate community clean-ups and recycling
projects from coast to coast. Power equipment manufacturer MTD Products,
Inc. donated a fleet of 147 Troy-Bilt® chipper/shredder vacuums to help
participants clean and beautify their communities.
The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company worked with Keep America Beautiful's local
Affiliates to landscape, plant bulbs, flowers and trees that created
vibrant new community green spaces in Orlando, FL, Atlanta, GA, Columbus,
OH, Norfolk, VA and Long Island, NY.
Other creative sponsor initiatives included Firestone Complete Auto Care
company-owned stores' involvement in removing a record number of scrap
tires and discarded batteries from vacant lots, roadsides and wooded
areas. In addition to hundreds of employees from coast to coast
participating in community clean-up efforts, participating Firestone and
Tires Plus retailers also accepted used motor oil. American Honda's "Road
to a Cleaner America" program promoted the safety and environmental
benefits of keeping our roadways free of litter and debris, and Wrigley's
"greenup™" program targeted teen volunteers in a national competition
to submit creative projects in order to win prizes for their communities.
"Through the Great American Cleanup, Keep America Beautiful's mission to
improve communities through waste reduction, litter prevention and
beautification is put in to action," said G. Raymond Empson, president of
Keep America Beautiful. "We know that our participating organizations are
bringing a sense of ownership and pride to their respective communities,
making them safer, cleaner and more economically viable."
"The Great American Cleanup enables each participating organization to
show off their diverse, local activities in the name of community
improvement," said Jim Pavel, chairman of Keep Western New York Beautiful,
"It is a major tool of community change. Partnerships and collaborative
efforts 'get it done' coast to coast."
The 2005 Great American Cleanup™ National Sponsors were: American
Honda Motor Company, Inc., Cingular Wireless, Firestone Complete Auto Care
& TiresPlus, GLAD® ForceFlex™ Trash Bags from The Glad Products
Company, SPARKLE® Paper Towels from Georgia-Pacific Corporation,
Pepsi-Cola Company, The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, Troy-Bilt®, Waste
Management, Inc. and the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company; Educational Partner:
Rubber Manufacturers Association.
About Keep America Beautiful, Inc.
Keep America Beautiful, Inc., established in 1953, is the nation's largest
volunteer-based community action and education organization. This national
nonprofit forms public-private partnerships and programs that engage
individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their community
environments. The Great American Cleanup™ is one of its many programs
that encourage people to care for communities through personal
responsibility and volunteer participation. For more information, visit www.kab.org
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