Litter
Everyone in America deserves to live in a beautiful community.
How We Can End Litter
The facts on litter are sobering. According to our most recent Litter Study there are more than 50 Billion pieces of litter on the ground. That’s 152 pieces of litter for every American.
But there is good news. In the past ten years, littering along US roadways is down 54%!
And last year alone, over 64,000 clean-up events were held in the US, resulting in over 146,600 ACRES of parks, public lands, waterways, trails and playgrounds cleaned up by volunteers like you.
What else can be done?
Do your part by joining the #152PickUpChallenge. Make sure to take pictures of your cleanup and tag us on social @KeepAmericaBeautiful and use the #152PickUpChallenge. You can also register here and receive email updates from us! Don’t forget to share your progress and let us know how you did. Together, we can clean up 50 billion pieces of litter!
![Littered Park_web](https://kab.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Littered-Park_web.jpg)
Take Action Now
Affiliate Network
Individual Action Center
Partners for Change
Working Within Communities
Keep America Beautiful works with individuals, communities, states, businesses, and our national leaders to address the challenges of ending litter and littering behavior.
Volunteer In Your Community
You might say, “I’m just one person, what can I do?”
Your help matters. When you volunteer to help clean up your community, you make a difference. When others see that you care for your community, they care too, and over time, behavior changes.
Our ongoing research shows that an end-to-end process for changing littering behavior through key activities like cleaning up public spaces is working.
Whether you work by yourself, or join a larger movement in your neighborhood, the cleanup is keeping America beautiful.
![vision-2022-clean-up_homepage-banner_web](https://kab.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/vision-2022-clean-up_homepage-banner_web-scaled.jpg)
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality Completes Adopt-A-Road Cleanup
April 2022 The Great American Cleanup is in full swing! We are excited to share special moments from your cleanup efforts! Thank you to Alison Sinclair from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality Piedmont Office for sharing photos from not one, but two...
Keep America Beautiful Recognizes 2021 Grant Recipients to Beautify MLK Corridors and Neighborhoods
As the nation celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day today, Keep America Beautiful®, in partnership with its sponsor Diageo, is pleased to recognize the recipients of the 2021 Community Improvement Grant to support areas in and around Martin Luther King Jr. Corridors and neighborhoods.
Keep America Beautiful Releases Largest Study on Litter in America
Roadway litter down 54% since 2009, but still 50 billion pieces on the ground STAMFORD, Conn. (May 19, 2021) – Keep America Beautiful®, the nation’s leading community improvement for-impact organization, today has announced the summary of its 2020 study on litter...
Taking Statewide Action
State and municipal governments play a key role in addressing litter on our streets, in our parks, and in our waterways. Keep America Beautiful affiliates across America are working side by side with these organizations to effect change. By working together, our affiliates add their voices to those supporting infrastructure improvements and change to better manage waste in our country.
Since our inception, we have proven again and again that the power of sustained change happens when we bringing all members of our communities together.
Our 700+ affiliates working in thousands of communities across the nation are doing this work every day. Ending litter in America is possible. We’re in it together.
Working Together
Nationally, Keep America Beautiful supports the Federal policies and programs needed to end litter in America.
Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful: Keep America Beautiful’s Affiliate of the Month for April 2022
Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful is being recognized for the Innovation Award they received from KAB in 2020. Keep Dalton Whitfield Beautiful created a cost-effective and easy to implement method to create mural-inspired trash cans that decrease littering.
KAB Innovation Spotlight: Largest Network of Electric Skimmers Introduced in TN River; Potential to Remove 54K Pounds of Litter a Year
Keep America Beautiful is excited to announce the installation of 18 Seabins in the Tennessee River and some of its tributaries. This will make the area home to the largest network of electric litter skimmer devices in any river system in the world. The installation was made possible by two grants from KAB and the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
Educating And Organizing
![KAB volunteers](https://kab.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/KAB-volunteers.png)
Supporting Our Work Through
Corporate Responsibility
When implemented properly, Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle solutions work to address the sources of litter. Our partners’ investments allow us to develop the capacity of our KAB affiliate network through improvements in technology, training, skills development, and other resources.
Together, we work to place our affiliates, volunteers, and corporate partners in a strong position to lead change.
Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful: Keep America Beautiful’s Affiliate of the Month for April 2022
Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful is being recognized for the Innovation Award they received from KAB in 2020. Keep Dalton Whitfield Beautiful created a cost-effective and easy to implement method to create mural-inspired trash cans that decrease littering.
KAB Innovation Spotlight: Largest Network of Electric Skimmers Introduced in TN River; Potential to Remove 54K Pounds of Litter a Year
Keep America Beautiful is excited to announce the installation of 18 Seabins in the Tennessee River and some of its tributaries. This will make the area home to the largest network of electric litter skimmer devices in any river system in the world. The installation was made possible by two grants from KAB and the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
KAB Volunteers By The Numbers
Last year alone, over 400,000 hard-working volunteers logged more than 2.9 Million volunteer hours over the course of over 64,000 events.
What did our combined service to our communities accomplish?
of litter, debris, and recycling collected
cleaned of litter
of streets, roads, and highways cleaned and beautified
of rivers, lakes, wetlands and shores cleaned
planted, helping restore communities
Great American Cleanup® (GAC)
Our signature program, the Great American Cleanup®is a nationwide effort spanning 3 months each year. Hundreds of thousands of people come together to take part in local volunteer opportunities, educating, cleaning and beautifying.
Together, our work cleans, greens and beautifies thousands of communities – and counting.
Cigarette Litter Prevention Program
Since 2002, our Cigarette Litter Prevention Program, the nation’s largest program aimed at eliminating cigarette litter, has been implemented in over 1,800 communities, reducing cigarette litter by HALF within six months, on average.
![programs-header-cigarette-litter](https://kab.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/programs-header-cigarette-litter.jpg)
Litter Resources
Looking for additional information on litter?
Whether you’re an individual looking to find information about living a zero-waste lifestyle, a teacher looking for educational resources, or a company looking for information on how to hold a corporate cleanup day, take a look at our resource page!
![gac 2022 individual toolkit](https://kab.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/gac-2022-individual-toolkit.jpg)
YOUR DONATION IN ACTION
Your generosity allows us to expand our program offerings, fund community improvement projects from coast to coast, and provide the means needed to make meaningful and lasting impact in local communities across the U.S.