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180,000 Don't Mess with Texas Trash-Off Volunteers to Pick Up
2 Million Pounds of Litter Statewide
Cleanup scheduled for Saturday, April 7

Austin, Texas – More than 180,000 volunteers from across the state will pick up an estimated 2 million pounds of litter from Texas roadsides and city parks during the Don't Mess with Texas Trash-Off on Saturday, April 7. Organized by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and Keep Texas Beautiful (KTB), the Don't Mess with Texas Trash-Off is the 16th annual statewide cleanup in which volunteers plan local events to beautify their communities.

"Litter can ruin our beautiful roadsides, especially when wildflower season is right around the corner," says Debbie Moody, President of Keep Texas Beautiful. "Every year, thousands of Don’t Mess with Texas Trash-off Volunteers do a lot of hard work on this one day to clean up after the people who keep trashing our landscapes and communities. This year, we hope more people with show their Texas pride by volunteering to adopt a highway and making a commitment to keep a two-mile stretch of highway clean all year long."

Many of the volunteers for this year's Don't Mess with Texas Trash-Off are from more than 4,100 Adopt-a-Highway groups and 258 Keep Texas Beautiful communities. Thousands of Adopt-a-Highway volunteers will focus on highway cleanup, and even more KTB volunteers will clean city streets, county roads and parks. Many KTB groups will also host graffiti wipe-outs, waterway cleanups and collection events for recycled materials and household hazardous waste.

"These volunteers are not a maid service," said Deborah Swift, executive director of Keep Texas Beautiful. "They're hosting these cleanup events to educate people in their communities about why people shouldn't throw stuff out their windows and why illegal dumping is bad for the environment."

The Don't Mess with Texas Trash-Off is also part of Keep America Beautiful's national Great American Cleanup event, which runs March through May in 25 states and one Canadian province, and will be America's largest organized litter cleanup, recycling and beautification program.

Along with the Don't Mess with Texas Trash-Off, TxDOT’s litter prevention programs include the Don’t Mess with Texas public education campaign, Adopt-a-Highway, and a grassroots partnership with Keep Texas Beautiful. Together, these programs have reversed a trend in the increase of litter on Texas highways, resulting in a 72 percent reduction in litter and cost savings to taxpayers of $2 million to $4 million per year.

TxDOT’s grassroots partner, Keep Texas Beautiful, is a nonprofit, environmental umbrella group consisting of a network of private citizens, communities, industries, civic groups, schools and government agencies. Anyone interested in participating in the Don't Mess with Texas Trash-Off can call Keep Texas Beautiful at 1-800-CLEAN-TX for further assistance.

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TIMELINE AND FACT SHEET
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Great American Cleanup
mid-March through mid-May

Volunteers from communities across America will be "cleaning up" through local events and activities from mid-March through mid-May. The national theme for the Great American Cleanup is "Extreme Clean". http://www.kab.org

Texas Kick-Off of the Great American Cleanup
Friday, March 9, 2001 in honor of International Adopt-a-Highway Day

The Adopt-a-Highway program in Texas was created in 1985. Nearly 4,000 groups have adopted thousands of miles of highway and have attempted to keep them clean of trash ever since. http://www.dontmesswithtexas.org/home.htm

Don’t Mess with Texas Trash-Off
Saturday, April 7, 2001

Cleanup events will take place throughout the state on Saturday, April 7, 2001. The first Don’t Mess with Texas Trash-Off was held in 1986. Since then volunteers with Keep Texas Beautiful and the Adopt-a-Highway program have joined together to form one of the nation’s single largest one day cleanup events in the nation. http://www.dontmesswithtexas.org

For information on your local community's events, please contact Diane C. Birdwell in the KTB office at 1-800-CLEAN-TX.