Submitted By: Tisha Bayne
The Keep America Beautiful Great American Cleanup is the nation’s largest community improvement program, which takes place in an estimated 20,000 communities nationwide. Here locally, Keep Lee County Beautiful, Inc. (KLCB) hosted their 23rd annual county-wide cleanup this past Saturday.
The windy weather did not stop the over 500 volunteers at 21 locations across Lee County who collected over 10,000 pounds of litter and debris from our beaches, parks, roads, and waterways. Lee County is a coastal community where eventually the majority of loose trash will find its way into the Gulf. During COVID there has been an increase in plastic pollution, making this community cleanup especially important this year. Volunteering is the most immediate and impactful solution to help protect our environment and local waterways.
The Great American Cleanup gave the Lee County residents and visitors the opportunity to come together to make a difference. The cleanup helped to transform neighborhoods and communities into beautiful, healthy spaces.
Keep Lee County Beautiful is the local resource for litter prevention, community greening, and recycling and waste reduction education. KLCB hopes events such as the Great American Cleanup continue to bring awareness to the local litter collection efforts and to inspire others to join.
Get involved with Keep Lee County Beautiful to help keep our county looking as pristine as possible, and have fun doing it. KLCB has Great American Cleanup events through the months of March and April in honor of Earth Day.
Mark your calendars for the International Coastal Cleanup taking place on September 18th and the Monofilament Madness water-based cleanup on November 6th. Visit http://klcb.org for details and information on sponsorship opportunities.
Keep Lee County Beautiful would like to thank all of the volunteers for their hard work to help us protect our paradise. Thank you to the presenting sponsor Tropical Smoothie, Peter Busch from NBC2 for being the event ambassador, and other sponsors Surfing’s Evolution & Preservation Foundation, Lee County Solid Waste, Waste Pro, Keep America Beautiful, Advanced Disposal, Coca-Cola Beverages Florida, Keep Florida Beautiful, The Town of Fort Myers Beach, Home Hunters USA, Suncoast Beverages, Hot Tub Specialists of SWFL, Safeguard Shredding Services, The City of Fort Myers, U.S. Anesthesia Partners, and the Paradise Iowa Club.
ABOUT KEEP LEE COUNTY BEAUTIFUL, INC.
Keep Lee County Beautiful, Inc., established in 1989, is the county’s largest volunteer-based community action and education organization. This local nonprofit forms public-private partnerships and programs that engage individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their community environments.
