Keeping Arkansas Beautiful: 1.5 Million Pounds of Litter Collected State-Wide in 2014

Courtesy of Beaver Watershed Alliance
Volunteers work together to remove discarded tires from riverbeds during an organized clean up by Beaver Watershed Alliance at Cato Springs, Ark.

More than 67,000 volunteers donated their time in 2014 to collect nearly 1.5 million pounds of litter throughout the state, and better yet, last year may have been the cleanest in 15 years, officials said.

Keep Arkansas Beautiful, a state-level affiliate of Keep America Beautiful announced their 2014 totals on Friday Jan. 30. Keep Arkansas Beautiful is a nonprofit organization that works for litter prevention, waste reduction, and community greening and beautification. The state affiliate has been active since being created 25 years ago by former Governor Bill Clinton.

Through several initiatives throughout the course of the year, all Arkansas communities were encouraged to organize cleanup teams to collect trash on foot or by boat. Volunteers collected litter along more than 3,000 miles of roadway and waterway. In addition, 4,300 acres of parks and public areas were cleaned. More than 3,000 trees, shrubs and flowers were planted during the 300 cleanup events as well.

“Cleanups provide more than just a cleaner state,” said Robert Phelps, executive director of Keep Arkansas Beautiful. “Twice a year, Arkansans have an opportunity to maintain the beauty of our state as well as help to conserve resources for a more sustainable future.”

Two major initiatives by the organization came in the form of state-wide clean ups each year; the Great American Cleanup each spring from March to May and the Great Arkansas Cleanup from August to October. The Great American Cleanup is a program of Keep America Beautiful and is supported in Arkansas by Keep Arkansas Beautiful.

Keep Arkansas Beautiful also works through public relations to educate communities and schools about littering, recycling and environmental conservation through several advertising campaigns and events. Currently, Keep Arkansas Beautiful uses the slogan “Arkansas is our home, keep it clean.”

Keep Arkansas 2014 Totals

“We have made significant strides in educating people across the state,” Phelps said. “What we are picking up now at the cleanups that we’ve had, consistently the volume of waste has gone down. I think the state is cleaner now than it was 15 years ago and I credit the people for taking the initiative to do the right thing and keep their state clean and beautiful.”

Fayetteville has been an affiliate member since 2012, and is the only city affiliated out of northwest Arkansas. The Free Weekly reached out to Brian Pugh, director of Fayetteville Solid Waste and Recycling and Keep Fayetteville Beautiful, but we were not able to connect in time before print deadline. To volunteer or organize a local clean up, be sure to visit the page at accessfayetteville.org at http://tinyurl.com/khd6qu6. Otherwise, those interested in finding or creating opportunities to volunteer can find more information at keeparkansasbeautiful.org.

Beyond the City of Fayetteville, The Beaver Watershed Alliance is also partnered with Keep Arkansas Beautiful and organizes several cleanups in addition to the two major cleanups in the spring and fall. As they do with all cleanup programs, Keep Arkansas Beautiful supplies events with trash and recycling bags, gloves, safety vests, banners and t-shirts and other supplies to help out.

“They’re a huge help to our clean up efforts,” said Bryant Baker, program coordinator for Beaver Watershed Alliance.

Locally, volunteers through the Beaver Watershed Alliance collected 10 tons of trash and cleaned over 100 miles of streams and lake shoreline in 2014.

Along with an impressive year for clean ups, Arkansas is doing “exceptionally well” compared to other states in the U.S. In fact, at this year’s annual conference, Keep Arkansas Beautiful was awarded its fifth Diamond Award, which is the highest honor a state affiliate can achieve, Phelps said.

Diamond Awards are given after a state is awarded five Gold Awards for going above and beyond requirements by Keep America Beautiful with having members serve on committees, helping determine policy and planning meetings.

“Over the last 10 years we have consistently ranked among the top 24 of Keep America Beautiful state affiliates,” Phelps said. “We have had a very high profile and excellent reputation with a record of achievement.”

Courtesy of Beaver Watershed Alliance
Cleanup volunteers organize trash into proper recycling bins in West Fork, Ark. In total, volunteers for the Beaver Watershed Alliance, an affiliate of Keep Arkansas Beautiful, collected 10 tons of trash and cleaned over 100 miles of streams and lake shoreline in 2014.

The Keep Arkansas Beautiful Commission is a division of the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism and is one of four state agencies that share proceeds from the Amendment 75 1/8-cent Conservation Tax. One percent of the one-eighth cent tax provides an annual budget of about $700,000. The commission consists of nine governor’s appointees; the executive director and a two-person staff manage operations, according to keeparkansasbeautiful.org.

As for reducing personal waste, Phelps said the be conscious of what you use and to make sure the waste produced ends up in the proper place.

“Litter is by definition misplaced waste. It has no place other than where it ought to be,” Phelps said. “It all goes back to personal responsibility for your community. That means putting your personal waste in the proper place, if it can be recycled, recycle it. If it’s trash, put it in the trash and send it to a landfill, certainly not as litter.”

With a successful year behind Keep Arkansas Beautiful, Phelps said he hopes to see a day when everyone takes it upon themselves to take pride in the state’s natural resources and become stewards of their environments.

“It’s so easy to do,” he said. “All we have to do is take care of what we have.”