One of Keep Mississippi Beautiful’s key partners, the Mississippi Recycling Coalition, is offering scholarships to undergraduate students enrolled in Mississippi public and private colleges and universities who are either majoring in areas related to environmental sciences, environmental education, and/or are active in promoting recycling or other sustainable practices.

The Mississippi Recycling Coalition in conjunction with the Mississippi Beverage Association is offering up to ten $1,000 scholarships.

Applications and transcripts must be received by October 27, 2017.

Learn more here.

From Keep America Beautiful —

Keep America Beautiful, the nation’s iconic community improvement nonprofit organization, today announced McDonald’s has become a National Sponsor of Keep America Beautiful’s Great American Cleanup (GAC), the largest year-round community improvement program in the country. Efforts will get underway on September 9, 2017 with National Planting Day, a fall initiative of the GAC. McDonald’s is the exclusive Presenting Sponsor of National Planting Day.

Held annually the first Saturday after Labor Day, National Planting Day kicks off the fall planting season for Keep America Beautiful’s network of more than 600 state and community-based Affiliates and other local partners, including many in Mississippi, with events taking place through October. The annual initiative celebrates the critical nature of native plants and trees in enhancing biodiversity, rebuilding ecosystems and supporting pollinator health.

Beautiful public places transcend aesthetic appeal to positively impact the lives of
area residents, visitors, businesses and institutions. Green spaces restore our communities, helping to make them more environmentally healthy, socially connected, and economically sound. National Planting Day focuses on four areas of need:

• Increasing the number of native trees in public spaces.
• Bringing natural beauty and sustainable urban infrastructure to “built environments.”
• Creating community-supported sustainable vegetable and fruit gardens.
• Greening and restoring vacant lots with low-maintenance indigenous plants and trees in underserved urban and rural neighborhoods.

“We’re incredibly grateful to McDonald’s for their support in shining a light on the Great American Cleanup and National Planting Day, which provide hands-on opportunities for anyone to participate in improving their local communities,” said Helen Lowman, president and CEO, Keep America Beautiful.

“Like McDonald’s, our footprint touches thousands of communities and millions of people. We are eager to work with McDonald’s, its restaurants and employees to create more beauty across America.”

Tips and ideas for celebrating National Planting Day can be found at https://www.kab.org/ourprograms/great-american-cleanup/national-planting-day.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2018, the Great American Cleanup is the nation’s largest community improvement program with an estimated 60,000 events occurring from spring through fall in more than 20,000 communities across the country. The Great American Cleanup annually engages millions of volunteers throughout the country to help renew parks, trails and recreation areas; clean shorelines and waterways; remove litter and debris; reduce waste and improve recycling; and plant trees, flowers and community gardens, among other activities to inspire a new generation of community stewards.

National sponsors of the Great American Cleanup include Altria, Dow, The Glad Products
Company, Lowe’s, Niagara Bottling and ReadyRefreshSM by Nestlé®.

About McDonald’s USA
McDonald’s USA, LLC, serves a variety of menu options made with quality ingredients to more than 25 million customers every day. Nearly 90 percent of McDonald’s 14,000 U.S. restaurants are independently owned and operated by businessmen and women. Customers can now log online for free at approximately 11,500 participating Wi-Fi enabled McDonald’s U.S. restaurants. For more information, visit www.mcdonalds.com, or follow us on Twitter @McDonalds and Facebook www.facebook.com/McDonaldsUS/.

About Keep America Beautiful
Keep America Beautiful, the nation’s iconic community improvement nonprofit organization, inspires and educates people to take action every day to improve and beautify their community environment. Established in 1953, we strive to End Littering, Improve Recycling and Beautify America’s Communities. We believe everyone has a right to live in a clean, green and beautiful community, and shares a responsibility to contribute to that vision. Behavior change – steeped in education, research and behavioral science – is the cornerstone of Keep America Beautiful. We empower generations of community stewards with volunteer programs, hands-on experiences,
curricula, practical advice and other resources to deliver measurable environmental, economic and social benefits. The organization is driven by more than 600 state and local affiliates, millions of volunteers, and the support of corporate partners, social and civic service organizations, academia, municipalities and government officials. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Donate and take action at kab.org.

Our sister organization, the Mississippi Recycling Coalition (MRC), is hosting its annual recycling conference in Ridgeland on Oct. 25. MRC is hosting the conference at Holmes Community College in Ridgeland.  The MRC State Recycling Conference draws representatives from local governments, state and federal agencies, universities and colleges, businesses and non-profit organizations (including Keep America Beautiful affiliates!) as well as recycling and solid waste professionals to participate in informative sessions and networking opportunities.

As one of Mississippi’s most decorated communities for its great shopping, beautiful green spaces and long-standing commitment to growing recycling, Ridgeland will be a good destination for the one-day conference. The meeting is preceded by a 20-Year Anniversary Celebration Reception on October 24 at Anjou Restaurant.

“As the chair of the MRC board of directors, I invite you all of our Keep America Beautiful affiliates here in Mississippi to attend this conference to learn about the latest in recycling,” said Sarah Kountouris, Keep Mississippi Beautiful executive director.

Learn more.

From our friends at Keep the Rez Beautiful —

August 11, 2017: Keep The Rez Beautiful’s Plan of Action to Reduce Litter Below the Spillway is working to reduce litter thanks to many volunteers and partners who believe in KRB’s mission of a cleaner Ross Barnett Reservoir and Pearl River! Since 2011 when KRB was certified with Keep America Beautiful, hundreds and possibly thousands of volunteers have been helping to clean up the Ross Barnett Reservoir watershed.

KRB partnered with the Pearl River Valley Water Supply District and reduced tons of litter on islands on the Upper Pearl several years ago. Eventually, the efforts focused to a broader section of the Pearl River.

Since 2011, volunteers have picked up tons of litter in this area as well as in other parts of the Pearl River and Reservoir.

KRB board members and partners developed the Plan of Action for Litter Reduction Below the Spillway and presented it to the Pearl River Valley Water Supply District Board for approval. The Board approved and the work began. Partners including the MS Dept. of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks, MS Dept. of Environmental Quality, Pearl River Kayaks, Inc. Keep Miss. Beautiful and others worked with PRVWSD to outline and implement the plan.

Since March 2017, volunteers have retrieved over 10,000 pounds of litter from the area.   Action plan items to reduce litter in the area recently implemented include: gates installed on both sides of the Lower Spillway entrances, that could also be used as high water gates when the area floods; signage installed stating that the area could be closed if the litter and trash isn’t reduced; more garbage cans; improved lighting to deter littering and other issues at night.

Keep America Beautiful and Lowe’s recently awarded KRB a $5,000 grant that will allow KRB and partners to

• Install a new User Station providing educational & recreational information about the area;
• Reduce blight in the area through beautification efforts; and
• Install monofilament containers to reduce large amounts of broken fishing line that affect wildlife habitat and more.

These efforts will aid in reducing litter, educate visitors about the impact and solutions in improving water quality and the wonderful opportunities that the Reservoir and Pearl River offer to everyone who recreate these areas.

Volunteers Needed Sept. 23

As a result of these efforts on September 23, the first ever Pearl River Clean Sweep is planned. Volunteers from Nanih Waiya to Pearlington and into Louisiana will be “sweeping” the Pearl retrieving litter. To sign up to volunteer go to: PearlRiverKeepers.com and select a site to help. So far, there are 25 sites you can volunteer for including many on the Ross Barnett Reservoir including the Lower Spillway areas. Not only will be the litter be removed, but KRB will be recycling plastic bottles and aluminum cans.

HELP US TREASURE THE REZ AND TREASURE THE PEARL….LET’S LEAVE IT SHINING!

Keep Mississippi Beautiful and Keep Flora Beautiful are excited to partner with McKee Foods through the Outdoor Happiness Movement to create Flora’s first public recreation area. The OH! Movement’s support will enable these nonprofits to establish the Elise G. Anderson Walking Park, which will include a quarter-mile walking trail and a children’s exercise area.

Keep Mississippi Beautiful and Keep Flora Beautiful, both affiliates of Keep America Beautiful, are preparing for a community workday on May 19, during which volunteers will help build the walking trail and exercise area as well as make other improvements to the site. Volunteers will plant trees, shrubs and flowers, help install the park’s benches and picnic tables, and clean up litter.

The event runs from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and closes with an appreciation lunch for volunteers. The event begins at the gazebo on the Veteran’s Memorial located on Main Street. Volunteers can sign up and learn more here: www.keepflorabeautiful.eventbrite.com.

This volunteer event is part of the Great American Cleanup State, the nation’s largest community improvement program, taking place in some 20,000 communities nationwide.

McKee Foods, a privately-held company based in Collegedale, Tenn., recently selected this project for a grant through the OH! Movement. People interested in learning more about the movement can visit OutdoorHappinessMovement.com to hear about upcoming projects across the U.S.

“We are immensely grateful for McKee Foods support of this project, which will improve the quality of life in Flora through beautification and providing opportunities to exercise and appreciate the outdoors,” said Sarah Kountouris, KMB executive director. “We encourage Mississippians to join us on May 19 to help us make improvements in this community.”

Keep Mississippi Beautiful and Keep Flora Beautiful are looking for volunteers to help create Flora’s first park, clean up litter and make other community improvements on May 19. The Great American Cleanup State Kickoff event is part of the nation’s largest community improvement program, taking place in some 20,000 communities nationwide.

“We hope you can join us for a day of giving back,” Keep Mississippi Beautiful Executive Director Sarah Kountouris said. “Our Great American Cleanup State Kickoff is one of our signature events each year, and we’re inspired by the volunteers who come to clean and green our state and truly keep Mississippi beautiful!”

The event runs from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and closes with an appreciation lunch for volunteers. The event begins at the gazebo on the Veteran’s Memorial located on Main Street. Volunteers can sign up and learn more here: www.keepflorabeautiful.eventbrite.com.

Most of the work will focus on the new Elise G. Anderson Walking Park, which will be the town’s first public recreation space. Volunteers will plant trees, shrubs and flowers, help install the park’s benches and picnic tables, and clean up litter.

Flora citizen John Anderson donated the land, and the park will be named in honor of his grandmother, Elise G. Anderson. The property boasts century-old pecan trees, and it will have a new walking trail and playground equipment.

“We are so excited to host this year’s Great American Cleanup State Kickoff,” said Nicole Kitchens, affiliate director for Keep Flora Beautiful. “This new park will be an asset in our town, and I’m grateful to the Anderson family, our volunteers, Keep Mississippi Beautiful, the town of Flora and our many other partners who are making this project a reality.”

Affiliates of Keep America Beautiful, including Keep Mississippi Beautiful and Keep Flora Beautiful, rally together millions of volunteers each year through the Great American Cleanup. Learn more about the Great American Cleanup: https://www.kab.org/our-programs/great-american-cleanup.

Hi fellow cleaners and greeners! Did you catch our Clean and Green Mississippi – December Update email? If not, you can check it out here: http://eepurl.com/ctJ1Hz.

In the email, you’ll find out about some of the wonderful work of our affiliates across the state, including Keep Simpson County Beautiful’s new community improvement project and Keep the Rez Beautiful’s star volunteer, Becca Blair. Also, in there, we’re showing off our holiday logo (to the right), which clad with magnolia leaves.

If you’re not on our email list, sign up here: http://eepurl.com/DJ95P.

The Mississippi Recycling Coalition (MRC) is offering up to $10,000 in grants to schools to support new or expanding recycling programs. Both $500 and $1,000 grants are available to public and private K-12 schools in Mississippi. This grant program supports the mission of MRC, a non-profit organization that works to promote and grow recycling efforts in the state.

Applications are due Tuesday, December 20, 2016. Mailed applications should be postmarked by that date; faxed and emailed applications should be submitted by 11:59 p.m.

Learn more by visiting MRC’s webpage.