Time to Say Goodbye to 2020!
Yes, there were many things that did not happen during this strange COVID year of 2020. But we’re happy to say that for our organization, some very important things did take place.
We heard from many of our Adopt-a-Highway permit holders who continue to be Highway Heroes as they clean up litter from miles and miles highway. While some were groups were challenged by the restrictions of social distancing, some are families that have adopted a road near their residence and were able to pick up litter more often while working from home. Thank you, thank you, thank you permit holders! (Learn more about adopting a highway – it’s free and easy to do!)
With the support of our sponsors, Altria, Coca-Cola, and Keep America Beautiful, we were able to continue with our tenth year of our 30 in 30 Green Grants program. We awarded thirty grants to groups all across the Commonwealth (check out the map to see where they are!), and they’ve done powerful things for their communities.
To highlight just a few results from the Green Grants awards, Augusta County Litter Control Program cleaned up 30 miles of roadway, picking up 116 bags of litter! Tech for Troops received over 6,000 desktops, monitors, electronic parts and other electronics that were sorted and recycled responsibly. Halifax County Quality of Place Work Group distributed 348 reusable produce bags at their farmer’s market. And Friends of Bryan Park installed five recycling bins in areas of the park that were most likely to have cans and bottles in their trash receptacles. You can read more about all of the Green Grants projects.
Our state Affiliates have also had many accomplishments during 2020. Keep Chesapeake Beautiful was able to install 24 outdoor cigarette butt receptacles at their City Hall Complex. That ought to reduce cigarette butt litter! And the Hampton Clean City Commission hosted a coastal cleanup in November that cleaned up 53 miles, resulting in 783 pounds of litter and debris being removed from the streets, shorelines, and water – wow! Learn more about all of our Affiliates here.
So there were some good things happening in 2020, and we’re grateful to all who are out there cleaning up and caring about the natural and scenic environment of Virginia. We’re looking forward to more good things in 2021!