It’s April – and that means it’s Keep America Beautiful® Month!

As communities across the country practice social distancing, there are still ways to join the nation’s leading community improvement nonprofit organization and make an impact in your community – virtually.

Here are 10 ways to #DoBeautifulThings while keeping yourself and your neighbors healthy and safe during Keep America Beautiful Month.

  1. Recycling regulations are shifting in some communities due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and guidelines from the CDC. Click here for recycling tips during COVID-19 and always check what you can and can’t recycle locally.
  2. Remember to place used gloves, wipes, and masks in the trash after using them. Personal protective equipment (PPE) is increasingly becoming a litter problem posing a threat to the environment as litter and to those who pick them up. These items should be properly disposed of in the trash, not on the ground.
  3. Take the #BeRecycled Pledge and check out the many ways Keep America Beautiful is working to improve recycling across the U.S. By educating and engaging individuals to recycle properly, we can help make recycling more economically viable, create jobs, and provide recyclables to manufacture new products and packaging, while continuing to reap greater environmental and community benefits.
  4. Take explorations of the great outdoors to the next level — from the comfort and safety of your own home. Click to learn how you can visit national parks, virtually.
  5. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to follow the conversation and receive updates from our organization.
  6. Don’t have a Keep America Beautiful affiliate in your community? Join us! 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.
  7. 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 actually enjoy a useful second life. Stay tuned for a full tip sheet on spring cleaning!
  8. Learn about the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program and see how we’re helping to reduce cigarette litter, the No. 1 form of litter, by an average of more than 50% in the communities in which the program has been implemented. Our grant application is open through April 10. Learn more here.
  9. Do you know what happens to your recyclables once you take them to the curb or drop them off at your local recycling center? Read about one eye-opening experience at the Sims Recycling Plant (the nation’s largest) in Brooklyn, New York.
  10. Donate to Keep America Beautiful to help us continue to make a lasting environmental, economic and social impact on communities nationwide.

Bonus!

On April 22, join Keep America Beautiful and its partner Earth Day Network as we EARTHRISE, a global digital mobilization that drives actions big and small, gives diverse voices a platform and demands bold action for people and the planet. Over the 24 hours of Earth Day, EARTHRISE will fill the digital landscape with global conversations, calls to action, performances, video teach-ins, and more.