Stamford, Conn. (April 5, 2022) – Keep America Beautiful® Month in April celebrates the work led by our 700 state and community-based affiliates, local partners, businesses, public officials, and millions of passionate volunteers. As the nation’s leading community improvement nonprofit organization, we empower individuals to take greater responsibility for their community environment with a goal of building an America where everyone lives in a beautiful community. Here are 10 ways you can take action in April – and throughout the year – and help create beautiful spaces in your community.

1. Volunteer

Our Great American Cleanup® is the nation’s largest community improvement program focusing on engaging individuals in a grassroots spring-cleaning movement. It runs through June 22 this year. To join the movement, register as a volunteer on the Keep America Beautiful Volunteer Portal. You can find events near you or clean up a site in your community alone or with a small group of friends. Once you’ve signed up to volunteer for an event, you can sign-up to receive a FREE cleanup kit, which contains a litter grabber, liners, work gloves, a scale, and a reflective vest.

2. Celebrate the Earth

Join Keep America Beautiful and our partners on Earth Day (April 22) in tackling the issue of mismanaged waste and making a difference in communities across the country. Now in its fourth year, The Great Global Cleanup provides opportunities for individuals to make positive, tangible impacts in our environment. Click here to find local cleanups or create your own.

3. Plog

Plogging is an environmental fitness craze in which people integrate the collection of litter within their jogging workout. The official definition of plogging is a blend of the Swedish phrase ‘plocka upp’ (meaning ‘pick up’) and ‘jogging’. Plogging was adopted by Keep America Beautiful because it incorporates the primary areas we address – reducing litter, improving recycling, and beautifying communities – and this healthy activity’s direct connection to our vision of a world that’s clean, green, and beautiful.

To plog, grab a bag, gloves, and a litter picker (if you have one) and pick up litter in your neighborhood, local park, or on a nearby trail or beach. Once completed, be sure to dispose of your litter properly and share your experience on social media.

And learn about the Keep America Beautiful® TrashDash™,  the nation’s leading plogging event, by clicking here.

4. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Take steps to reduce, reuse, and recycle during spring cleaning! You might be surprised to find that many of the items you could have sworn were destined for the garbage or giveaway tables can enjoy a useful second life. We also encourage you to take the #BeRecycled Pledge and show your commitment to reducing, reusing, and recycling at home, work, and on the go.

Additionally, do not forget about your old vehicles during your spring cleaning. The Keep America Beautiful Vehicle Donation Program, through CARS (Charitable Adult Rides & Services), provides an alternate opportunity for you to donate to Keep America Beautiful. It offers a tax-deductible way to dispose of unwanted vehicles (running or not) including cars, trucks, trailers, boats, RVs, motorcycles, campers, off-road vehicles, planes, heavy equipment, farm machinery, and most other motorized vehicles. Vehicle donation pick-up is always free to you and most vehicles can be picked up within 24-72 hours. Click here to learn more and donate.

5. Explore Zero Waste

At Keep America Beautiful®, we encourage everyone to make it a priority to reduce, reuse, repurpose, and recycle at home, at work, and on the go. Additional steps to living a zero-waste lifestyle include refusing and repairing. 

Are you interested in learning more about how you can start your zero-waste within your personal life and in your community? We’ve put together some useful resources and guides to help you explore what the path to zero-waste could look like for you. Click here for 6 tips to living a zero-waste lifestyle.

6. Discover and Share Beautiful Moments

Join us as we highlight that even in challenging times, people do beautiful things. From stories to videos to images, discover beautiful moments and share your own by clicking here.

7. Get Planting

To celebrate National Arbor Day, which takes place April 29 this year, consider planting a tree or even a garden in your yard. Trees have many benefits from sequestering carbon and providing oxygen to creating habitats for wildlife and beautifying green spaces. When planting trees or a garden, try to incorporate native species. Native species, including trees, shrubs, and wildflowers, are critical to enhancing biodiversity, rebuilding ecosystems, and supporting pollinator health. 

And while we’re talking about trees, get to know more about RETREET®, a Keep America Beautiful flagship program. RETREET is the national authority in post-disaster tree planting.  Click here.

Illustration courtesy of Dan Grissom Art & Design

8. Start a Keep America Beautiful Affiliate

The Keep America Beautiful network of 700 state and community-based affiliates carry out our shared mission at the state, county, and municipal levels. If you are interested in bringing a Keep America Beautiful affiliate to your community, learn more here. We are accepting applications to join our network. We can conduct virtual web conferences to talk about the process further and institute a logical training timeline.

9. Stay In the Know

Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter for the latest programs and initiatives, upcoming events, and affiliate highlights.

10. Donate

Donate to Keep America Beautiful to help us continue to make a lasting environmental, economic, and social impact on communities nationwide. To learn more about other ways to support our mission, click here.

###

Contact: Abby Turpin, Director of Communications
Keep America Beautiful®
aturpin@kab.org