Great American Cleanup breaks records in 2005

Stamford, CT— A grassroots army of 2.45 million volunteers, led by Keep America Beautiful. Inc. and its participating local organizations, mobilized nationwide between March and May 2005 for Keep America Beautiful’s Great American Cleanup™. Celebrating the event’s 20th anniversary, volunteers removed over 208 million pounds of litter and debris from roads, vacant lots and waterways nationwide, planted over four million flowers, bulbs and trees in the process, and addressed various areas of need in their community’s environment.

Keep America Beautiful, the nation’s largest nonprofit community improvement organization, partnered with Firestone Complete Auto Care & TiresPlus on a record-setting removal of scrap tires from the national landscape. The Great American Cleanup netted a total of 2.1 million scrap tires nationwide, surpassing the 2004 Great American Cleanup record. Thanks to Keep Kentucky Beautiful’s involvement, in partnership with Firestone, the state of Kentucky alone collected 1.1 million scrap tires for recycling.

Using state Division of Waste Management funds, Kentucky’s Great American Cleanup participating organizations held tire amnesty programs in each county. Teammates of Firestone Complete Auto Care worked with Great American Cleanup volunteers to collect tires, helping to stop the threat of potential fire and water hazards.

Firestone employees got involved in a variety of hands-on activities as part of the event, lending their help to an impressive national effort. This year’s Great American Cleanup™ results highlights include:

•Collecting 21 million pounds of aluminum and steel for recycling, more than doubling the 2004 total;
•Collecting 57 million pounds of newspaper for recycling, a fourfold increase from the 2004 total;
•Nearly doubling the miles of roads, street and highways cleaned to 176,000;
•Cleaning 10,250 miles of rivers, lakes and shorelines – a 58 percent increase;
•More than doubling the number of graffiti abatement/removal sites to 16,000;
•Cleaning 3,800 illegal dump sites, a 46 percent improvement from 2004;
•Painting, renovating and building 2,815 commercial and residential buildings, more than double the 2004 total;
•Cleaning 51,000 acres of parks and public lands – a 58 percent increase; and
•Holding 4,500 educational workshops, that reached an estimated 403,000 participants.

For the third consecutive year, President George W. Bush served as Honorary Chair of the Great American Cleanup™. Mrs. Laura Bush joined him as Honorary Chair.

The 2005 Great American Cleanup™ National Sponsors were: American Honda Motor Company, Inc., Cingular Wireless, Firestone Complete Auto Care & TiresPlus, GLAD® ForceFlex™ Trash Bags from The Glad Products Company, SPARKLE® Paper Towels from Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Pepsi-Cola Company, The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, Troy-Bilt®, Waste Management, Inc. and the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company; Educational Partner: Rubber Manufacturers Association.