Keep America Beautiful

Founded in 1953, Keep America Beautiful (KAB) is the nation's largest nonprofit community improvement and educational organization. With three areas of focus - litter prevention, beautification and community improvement, and waste reduction - communities and states across America are becoming more litter conscious and are striving to keep their area litter-free and beautiful.

Through its network of nearly 1,000 affiliated and participating organizations, Keep America Beautiful works year-round to provide sustainable solutions to communities. 

During 2006, its 2 million volunteers across America logged over 7.5 million hours of volunteer time during KAB’s Great American Cleanup.

Other accomplishments include the following:

• 37 million plastic bottles and more than 2.5 million scrap tires were diverted from the waste stream
• 10,200 illegal dump sites cleaned, which is more than double the number of sites cleaned in 2005
• 168,000 miles of streets, roads and highways cleaned and beautified, approximately equal to seven times around the earth
• 3,900 miles of hiking, biking and nature trails cleaned, equivalent to a trail stretching from Key West to Seattle
• 38.5 million pounds of aluminum and steel recycled, an 80% increase over 2005’s total
• 4.8 million pounds of electronics recycled, a 32% increase over 2005’s total
• 5.4 million plants, flower and bulbs planted, a 29% increase over 2005’s total