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KEEP TEXAS BEAUTIFUL CELEBRATES
INTERNATIONAL ADOPT-A-HIGHWAY DAY


Austin, Texas – It all began with one single blue and white sign that garnered a lot of attention in Tyler, Texas in 1985. Sixteen years later, the famous Adopt-a-Highway (AAH) signs lining the Texas highways total nearly 8,000. Not only was Texas the first state in the nation to develop such a litter cleanup program, it was the first in the world.

On Friday, March 9th, Keep Texas Beautiful, a statewide nonprofit organization, and its nearly 300 community affiliates, will celebrate International Adopt-a-Highway Day. AAH is one of the state’s leading litter cleanup programs that spans to every corner of Lone Star State. Nearly 3,800 civic organizations have adopted a two-mile stretch of highway totally nearly 8,000 miles. In other words, thousands of volunteers continue to pick up the trash others freely and illegally dispose of on Texas roads everyday.

Keep Texas Beautiful (KTB) works as the grassroots arm of the Texas Department of Transportation’s litter prevention programs, including the "Don’t Mess with Texas" campaign and Adopt-a-Highway.

"The affiliate communities of Keep Texas Beautiful are dedicated to making their communities the cleanest, most beautiful communities in the state, and the nation," said Deborah Swift, executive director, Keep Texas Beautiful. "One of the ways we work toward that goal is to actively participate in litter cleanup programs such as Adopt-a-Highway. Every little bit that an organization or even an individual does, makes a positive difference in our environment."

In addition to a host of yearlong environmental programs, organizations such as Keep Amarillo Beautiful, Keep Wimberley Beautiful, Keep Aransas Beautiful, and Keep Dalhart Beautiful have adopted a stretch of highway in their communities.

"Wimberley is Lady Bird Johnson country and as far as we’re concerned, it should be beautiful and clean of trash," said Martha Knies, volunteer coordinator of Keep Wimberley Beautiful. "The citizens of Wimberley truly care about how our community looks and adopting a section of highway in our community is how we can be a part of the solution."

"But frankly we’re quite disappointed because the trash along our highways seems to be on the increase," she continued. "It’s very sad for our volunteers to see. We can’t seem to keep up with all the trash that’s being illegally thrown onto the roadsides. But none-the-less, we’re committed to continue to pick it up until we can educate everyone to ‘Don’t Mess With Texas."

International Adopt-a-Highway Day is being celebrated in states throughout our nation and in countries such as South Africa, Canada, New Zealand, and Japan. Many Texas highways remain up for adoption and need the attention of a caring organization. For additional information regarding adopting a highway, contact the Keep Texas Beautiful office at 1-800-CLEAN-TX.

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