The Great Arkansas Cleanup launches September 9!

Each fall, Arkansas volunteers and organizers improve their communities by participating in the Great Arkansas Cleanup, the Keep Arkansas Beautiful Commission’s (KAB) annual litter pickup and community cleanup event. This year’s event kicks off September 9 and will continue through October.

Last year’s Great Arkansas Cleanup featured more than 140 community events across the state involving upwards of 7,000 Arkansans, who picked up more than 210,000 pounds of litter and collected over 900,000 pounds of bulky waste, from roughly 1,735 miles of roadway and waterway.

“With the assistance of volunteers and cleanup organizers, we can aid in the preservation of communities across Arkansas,” said Liz Philpott, volunteer program manager at KAB.

“We encourage Arkansans to participate in a local Great Arkansas Cleanup event and help us improve the communities we care about in Arkansas.”

Those who would like to coordinate an event in their community or volunteer for a scheduled event can email [email protected] or call toll-free 888-742-8701. Organizers may visit KeepArkansasBeautiful.com to access free promotional tools such as a cleanup instructional video and printable publicity materials. KAB will also provide cleanup materials and supplies, such as T-shirts, trash bags, gloves and safety vests to local events, while supplies last.

The Keep Arkansas Beautiful Commission, consisting of a professional staff and a nine-member advisory board appointed by the governor, is a division of the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism. As a certified state affiliate of Keep America Beautiful Inc., KAB is funded through its 1 percent portion of the eighth-cent Conservation Tax and, by mobilizing volunteers, returns to the state a cost benefit of more than $6 in community service for each program dollar spent. 

Keep Arkansas Beautiful inspires and educates individuals to reduce litter, recycle and keep Arkansas beautiful. 

Keep America Beautiful is the nation’s premier community improvement organization. Founded in 1953, the nonprofit has a network of affiliates around the U.S. focused on litter prevention, waste reduction and beautification. Keep America Beautiful is recognized as the leader in changing attitudes and behaviors affecting our community environments.

Through its actions, Keep America Beautiful helps create communities that are socially connected, environmentally healthy and economically sound. Today, it continues to be the most credible organization in its three focus areas by vigorously pursuing its guiding principles of education, volunteerism, partnership and individual responsibility.