Keep Mississippi Beautiful has a number of signature programs that focus on improving communities by preventing litter, promoting recycling and beautification. Many of our programs align with those of Keep America Beautiful as well as our network of affiliates across the state.

Great American Cleanup

The Great American Cleanup is the nation’s largest community improvement effort, rallying together 4 million volunteers to improve 20,000 communities. Keep Mississippi Beautiful and its network of affiliates participate each year in this Keep America Beautiful effort, working with local communities to make improvements in their neighborhoods.

Keep Mississippi Beautiful holds a Great American Cleanup State Kickoff each year. Keep Mississippi Beautiful Affiliates are encouraged to submit proposals at the beginning of each year.

Keep the Rez Beautiful was selected for the 2024 Great American Cleanup State Kickoff site! Please make plans to join us on May 3, 2024. Please scan the QR code or click this link to register. Volunteer Signup 2023 Great American Cleanup Kickoff

In 2023, Keep Mississippi Beautiful’s Great American Cleanup State Kickoff took place in McNeill Park with Keep Pearl River County Beautiful! Scores of volunteers, supporters, donors, and school children built beds, a bridge, installed picnic tables, a new flagpole, revitalized a pavilion, rewired several structures, and ate a wonderful picnic lunch. Friends of McNeill Park have been planning events all summer at the park, including a Fourth of July community event.

Previous Great American Cleanups

Keep Mississippi Beautiful’s 2022 Great American Cleanup Kickoff event was led by Keep Belzoni Beautiful. Volunteers from Keep Mississippi Beautiful affiliates, the community, local, county, and state government representatives, and local businesses implemented phase II of the Keep Belzoni Beautiful community garden.  People of all ages planted, dug, built, transplanted, mulched, and grilled! “Love where you live”, Keep Belzoni’s motto, was experienced on this great day. The community garden is flourishing with the dedication and hard work of Kept Belzoni Beautiful and community and city support. 

Keep Mississippi Beautiful held two Great American Cleanup Kickoff events in 2021. The first took place with Keep Jackson Beautiful beginning with our Annual Awards Presentation on the steps of the Mississippi State Capitol presented by Governor Tate Reeves and First Lady Elee Reeves. 103 volunteers dispersed to sites across Jackson and volunteered over two hours planting 8 trees in Keep Jackson Beautiful’s Community Garden and over 200 flower bulbs on the grounds of Jackson City Hall. This event had a cost avoidance of over $10,700. The second event was our planned 2020 Kickoff event with Keep Corinth-Alcorn County Beautiful that was postponed due to Covid-19. Over 77 trees were planted at the entrances of Crossroads Regional Park replacing the 76 trees that were lost in a storm with 70-90 mph straight line winds in October 2019. Over 57 volunteers came together for over 2 hours and collected over 1,110 pounds of litter and worked on curb maintenance and mulching a major thoroughfare in downtown Corinth. This event displayed the resiliency of Corinth and Alcorn County specifically through beautification and had a cost avoidance of over $4,000.

Be sure to check our Volunteer webpage to see if about upcoming cleanup opportunities. If not, we encourage you to organize one! We can provide the supplies. See “Community Cleanups” on our Community Resources webpage for more information.

Cigarette Litter Prevention Program

Cigarettes are the #1 littered item across America. Sixty-five percent of all cigarette butts are littered instead of disposed of properly.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

In the 2020 KAB National Litter Study, 9 out of 10 littered items counted were 4″ and less, with cigarette butts being the number one littered item in this category accounting for 9.7 billion butts counted on any given day in the U.S.

The Cigarette Litter Prevention Program (CLPP), now in its 21st year, is the nation’s largest program aimed at reducing cigarette litter. Communities implementing a Cigarette Litter Prevention Program, consistently reduce cigarette litter by half based on local measurements taken in the first four to six months after program is implemented. Since its inception, the program has been implemented in more than 1,800 U.S. communities.

An effective local Cigarette Litter Prevention Program includes four proven, field-tested solutions or strategies for reducing cigarette butt litter.

• Review local litter laws, including cigarette butt litter, and support enforcement
• Raise awareness about the issue of proper cigarette butt disposal using messaging and marketing campaigns
• Place ash receptacles at transition points to non-smoking area like beaches, hospitals, or public parks; and
• Distribute pocket or portable ashtrays to adult smokers

With the help of Keep America Beautiful’s Cigarette Litter Prevention Program, we are working with the Mississippi Department of Transportation to reduce cigarette butt litter at four welcome centers. Read more.

Wildflower Trails of Mississippi

Mississippi has many native wildflowers, but these days, they can be tough to find. The Wildflower Trails of Mississippi project is helping bring them back, sowing the seeds to ensure future generations can appreciate the sights and smells of wildflowers. Visit Wildflower Trails of Mississippi’s webpage.

Waste in Place 

Waste in Place is a Keep America Beautiful educational resource developed for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade students and educators that offers hands-on activities related to end littering, improve recycling and beautifying communities. The activities are interdisciplinary and STEM correlated. The materials are used by many educators nationwide to influence positive behavior, to foster social responsibility and respect for the environment, and to enrich their students’ learning experiences.

Download the sneak peak guide, or visit KAB’s Waste in Place webpage.

America Recycles Day

ABOUT AMERICA RECYCLES DAY

It is the only nationally-recognized day dedicated to promoting and celebrating recycling in the United States! Held on and around November 15,  America Recycles Day educates and encourages individuals on how to be more mindful of what they consume, where and how to properly recycle, and to pledge to recycle more and recycle right in their everyday lives.

Focusing on individual action, the day highlights the actions we can all take to collectively address the challenges facing our nation’s recycling system. Through ARD, Keep America Beautiful and its partners inspire communities and individuals to recognize the economic, environmental, and social benefits of recycling. Keep America Beautiful urges people to pledge to reduce, reuse, repurpose and recycle in every aspect of their life. The #BeRecycled pledge is a promise to actively choose to live a recycled lifestyle by:

1. Recycling at home, work, school and on the go;
2. Buying products made with recycled content; and
3. Educating and encouraging friends, family, and neighbors to take the #BeRecycled pledge

Aside from the #BeRecycled Pledge, people can be part of the recycling solution by participating or hosting their own America Recycles Day event. Events can be scheduled at any time during the fall leading into the official America Recycles Day celebration, Nov. 15. Keep America Beautiful encourages all participants and event organizers to follow state and local health guidelines pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sponsors of this year’s America Recycles Day include Title Sponsor Cox Enterprises, International Bottled Water Association (IBWA), and BlueTriton.

Keep Mississippi Beautiful Annual Report