February 28, 2006

CONTACT: Josh Spradling or Katie Sternberg
1-800-CLEAN-TX

Keep the “Great” in Your “Great Outdoors”
with the 2006 Great American Cleanup™!

Texas - (February 28, 2006) – Keep Texas Beautiful affiliates and volunteers from across the state will c lean up, fix up, paint up, and green up their communities f rom March 1 – May 31 as part of Keep America Beautiful’s Great American Cleanup™.

The Great American Cleanup™ (GAC) , the nation’s largest annual community improvement program, provides citizens with the opportunity to make a positive impact on their community and beautify public spaces and waterways. Past GAC organizers have said that their neighborhoods and residents felt safer after volunteers united to clean the local environment.

GAC has grown stronger each year with millions of Americans taking responsibility for their local environment. “ Americans are rallying together to clean up graffiti, eliminate litter, green up and beautify surroundings while preserving our waterways to create a cleaner, safer and more beautiful environment for generations to come,” said G. Raymond Empson, president of Keep America Beautiful.

In 2005, 939 GAC events were held in Texas. The impact was significant: 136,000 Texans collected more than 13,000 tons of litter and debris; planted 103,000 flowers, bulbs, and trees; and cleaned 593 miles of rivers, lakes, and shorelines. Volunteers also held 593 education events, reaching more than 80,000 Texans.

“Spring is a great time for families, friends and co-workers to band together and volunteer to clean and beautify their communities. The Great American Cleanup has a lasting impact not only on those participating in events, but also those in the affected areas,” Lynn Lantrip, President of Keep Texas Beautiful said.

Texas ’ signature event of the GAC is the Don’t Mess with Texas Trash-Off. Trash-Off, held annually on the first Saturday of April, is the state’s largest litter prevention and cleanup day. On April 1, thousands of Adopt-a-Highway volunteers will focus on highway cleanups, and Keep Texas Beautiful volunteers will clean city streets, county roads, trails, parks, and waterways.

More than 600 Texas GAC events are currently registered! To find events scheduled in your community, or to learn how you can organize a cleanup in your area, please visit www.ktb.org.

 About Keep Texas Beautiful, Inc.
Keep Texas Beautiful, an affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, is a nonprofit environmental and community improvement organization whose mission is to empower Texans through education to take responsibility for enhancing their community. For more information, please call 1-800-CLEAN-TX or visit www.ktb.org.

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