On the heels of its three-month-long Great American Cleanup campaign, North Georgia-based Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful is delighted to celebrate some stellar results from thousands of outstanding environmental stewards.

“We did things a little differently this year by tying the Great American Cleanup to our ongoing ME Campaign,” said Sumner Gann, interim executive director for Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful (GCB). “Representative of ‘My Environment,’ the ME Campaign signifies a partnership between GCB and the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners to inspire local citizens, civic groups, school clubs, community organizations and small business to take action and show individual initiative by lending their time and talents for the benefit of the environment.

“The goal is to get members of the Gwinnett County community to work together to keep ‘ME’ clean. Judging from the level of involvement and results, that message clearly resounded countywide, Gann added.

All told, GCB engaged more than 7,500 participants in 193 community improvement projects for this year’s Great American Cleanup. Over the course of just 92 days, participants collected more than 4.1 million pounds of recyclables – enough to fill the recycling bins at more than 27,000 homes. They also cleaned and beautified 365 miles of roadway throughout the county, and picked up 36,720 pounds of litter from Gwinnett’s roadsides.

The following organizations were winners in various categories of the 2016 Great American Cleanup – Gwinnett Challenge:

  • United Peachtree Corners Civic Association & City of Peachtree Corners (Winning Project): Answering the call for the “Keep ME Clean – Stop Litter and Graffiti” Category, 55 volunteers collected 1,260 lbs. of trash at six locations in the city of Peachtree Corners.
  • Gwinnett County Parks & Recreation (Winning Project): In response to the “Make ME Green– Beautify your Neighborhood” Category, 33 volunteers spent 99 hours picking up trash and beautifying Lucky Shoals Park.
  • Lanier High School (Winning Project): For the “Educate ME – Teach Others How to Rethink the Way They Recycle” Category, 1,700 volunteers spent more than 900 hours to collect hundreds of books for Friends of Refugees – a local nonprofit created to empower refugees through opportunities that provide for their well-being, education, and employment.
  • Raw Evolution Studios (Winning Project): In a visually stunning response to the “Inspire ME – Discover a Creative Use of a Resource” Category, two volunteers upcycled items thrown away in the trash to create six unique pieces of original art décor.
  • Peachtree Corners Green Committee (Winning Project): For the “Protect ME – Safeguard our Waterways” Category, eight volunteers collected 10 bags of litter along a half-mile stretch of Crooked Creek, located downstream from Jimmy Carter Boulevard.