Great American Cleanup

This year has been and continues to be....

An exciting 2024 GAC!

Each year, KPB participates in the nation’s largest community improvement program, the Great American Cleanup (GAC). This effort is sponsored by Keep America Beautiful, and 2024 is shaping up to be a big year for our programs in Pickens County.

Historically, we focused on April as Great American Cleanup month in Pickens, but we have so many things we want to do, in 2024! This year, March focused on litter cleanups, and April is focusing on beautification.

So mark your calendars! Join the KPB Volunteer Team for the 2024 Great American Cleanup and come help improve our community!

2024 Proclamation Signing

KPB, Pickens County, and the City of Jasper team up for an excellent 2024 GAC

Get Involved in Our Upcoming GAC Projects

There is so much going on!

April is beautification month

The April Schedule

April 6

Garden cleanup at the Historic Kirby Quinton Cabin and the Pickens Progress parking lot beds.

This is one of the first Edible Pickens gardens KPB installed in partnership with the Pickens Historical Society, and it’s thriving! On this day, we did some minor cleanup to prep it for more plants to be added in May.

April 13

Build the raised beds for the CARES Community Garden.

KPB and CARES are partnering to build a large raised bed garden to grow fresh, organic veggies on site for the families that CARES serves.

April 20

3rd Annual Earth Day on Main.

This year’s Earth Day on Main is shaping up to be the best yet! Lots of crafts and activities for kids of all ages, live music, local farmers and artisans selling their goods, information from local resources, and much more!

April 27

Begin building the ‘Pizza Garden’ at the Pickens County Library

KPB is partnering with the Pickens County Library to offer a variety of activities in the coming months. We’re starting with installing a new Edible Pickens garden in their parking lot, with a pizza theme! Come help build the foundation for the plants we’ll add in May.

March Miles

Our Pick-Up Pickens team will be doing litter pickups all month long, with the goal to collect 2,024 gallons of trash from our roadsides for 2024’s Great American Cleanup!

FRIDAY MARCHES – The first 4 Fridays in March from 11am-3pm. Join with members of the KPB team to clean-up four corners of the county.

Our March Weekly Highlight Challenges

WEEK 1: #TakeThePledge – Sign up for a stretch of roadside or park clean-up in your own corner of Pickens County. Do the pick-up alone, with friends, with your dog, or with neighbors. Come to the office to get a pick-up kit and supplies– then just… Pick a place, pick it up, and let us know how long it took, how much trash you removed, and where you de-littered.

WEEK 2: #TrashArt – Often the trash you find on the roads can become a treasure. You would be surprised at the things that land, somehow, on the roadsides. Sometimes there are things that are brand new and seem to have fallen out inadvertently. Other times there are things that can be repurposed or that are just fun. Spend an hour or two trashwalking and keep your eye out for treasures – snap a pic and post it. (And don’t forget to report your miles, amount of litter picked up, and time for our Pick-Up Pickens March Miles count.)

WEEK 3: #Plog-Walking – Plogging is a term from Sweden that refers to Picking Litter (PL) while jogging. Plog Walking is combining Picking Litter with Dog-Walking. Next time you are out getting the pup exercise, bring a bag and pick up litter while your dog gets his exercises. Send a picture capturing the joys of plog-walking, including your dog, your litter, you, and whatever else you want to show. Then report your numbers to the March Miles Pick-Up report.

WEEK 4: #DoGoodThingsTogether – Enroll your work team in picking up litter. Enlist everyone in the office or store or church or club to work together to get litter off the streets one day this week. Collect all of the trash and see how much it adds up to! Remember that if every person in the US. picked up just 126 pieces of litter, the United States would be litter free. How much litter can your team collect in a day? Send us a photo of your team effort!! And don’t forget to report your numbers to the March Miles Pick-Up report!