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Green gifts

Man unloading a large dumpster

Free Use of a Dumpster for Your Cleanup

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Man unloading a large dumpsterWe’re still celebrating our 70th Anniversary of our organization with 35 Green Gifts for you!  We want to give you access to the tools needed to get out there and improve the natural and scenic environment of Virginia!

Sometimes you need more than buckets or trash bags to tackle large jobs.  We’re grateful for support from Dumpsters.com to help you tackle that project!  They will provide free delivery and use of a roll off dumpster, which is a large, open-top waste container.  The containers also have a swing door allows the user easier access to load large or heavy items from the ground, instead of throwing them in from the top.

Dumpsters are ideal for large projects, such as:

      • Items from illegal dumping sights
      • Trail clearing of large branches, debris, and invasive species
      • Clearing debris from an abandoned house

Please be mindful not to include items that can be repurposed, donated, or recycled, including cardboard or metal that may have scrap value, to keep those types of items out of the landfill.

If this sounds like something your group is ready to tackle, please apply for a Green Gift from Dumpsters.com before October 15, 2023.  Please see the guidelines on our website.

We have other Green Gifts were giving away too!

On the opposite side of large-scale cleanups is small – very small litter.  Did you know that nine out of ten pieces of litter on the ground in the U.S. were under four inches in size, and cigarette butts continue to be the single most littered item in America (Keep America Beautiful 2021 Litter Study).  In case you need to explain it to people who think that cigarette butts decompose, you can tell them that cigarette butt filters are made of cellulose acetate, a man-made plastic material that contains hundreds of toxic chemicals that are dangerous to wildlife and waterways.Cigarette Butt Cup Ashtray, Wall-mounted Receptacle, and Pouch

One other category of Green Gifts that we’re giving away is for those of you who are concerned about cigarette butt litter.  We’d like to help restaurants, businesses, libraries, municipalities, and others start a Cigarette Litter Prevention Program.  We will give away the needed supplies, including a mounted receptacle, 10 car cup ashtrays, and 50 pocket ashtrays, to encourage others to collect cigarette butts, along with our support for your program.

Then the next step after collecting them is to send the cigarette butts (at no cost) to TerraCycle, a company dedicated to recycling the hard-to-recycle items.  The process the cellulose acetate plastic in cigarette filters into pellets, and create new items, like sturdy benches for your public spaces.

If this sounds like something your group is ready to tackle, please apply for a Cigarette Litter Prevention  Green Gift before October 15, 2023.  Please see the guidelines on our website.

Green Gifts logo of a gift with leaves for a ribbon and KVB logo

Green Gifts for You

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Green Gifts logo of a gift with leaves for a ribbon and KVB logoIt’s hard to believe that our organization has been striving for a cleaner, greener Commonwealth for 70 years!  What started out in 1953 as the Virginia Anti-Litterbug Council, became Keep Virginia Beautiful, Inc., a state affiliate of Keep America Beautiful.  We’ve enjoyed the support of our Board members, volunteers, event participants, sponsors, local Affiliates, allied partners, and donors.  We’ve come a long way together!

One of the ways we’re celebrating this year is by offering YOU gifts – Green Gifts!  We want you to have the resources to reduce waste and beautify Virginia.

Applications for Green Gifts will be accepted between September 15 – October 15, 2023, and decisions will be announced by the end of October.  The form is very short, and won’t take long for you to tell us what you would like to accomplish with a Green Gift!

Schools, faith groups, scouts, civic, and other organizations are invited to apply in the category that best suits their needs.  (Awards will not be made to individuals.)  You may apply for more than one category, but each group may only receive one award.

  • Trex Bench  To beautify to a public space to encourage community gathering
  • Glasdon Recycling Bins  Set of 6 recycling bins to start or add to your recycling program
  • Dumpsters.com  Use of a roll-off dumpster for large-scale cleanups (check for areas served)
  • Cigarette Litter Prevention Program   Supplies, including a mounted receptacle, 10 car cup ashtrays, and 50 pocket ashtrays, to encourage others to collect cigarette butts to be recycled
  • Dogipot Pet Waste Station  To encourage proper disposal of pet waste in a public area

If you’d like to learn more, click HERE for details and photos of the Green Gifts that will be awarded.

Please review the full Green Gifts Guidelines before applying.  The application form is at the bottom of the Green Gifts webpage.

If you have questions about the Green Gift campaign, please contact Beckey Watson, Development Director, [email protected].

Thank you for joining in our mission to improve the natural and scenic environment of Virginia! We are grateful to our sponsors for supporting our Green Gift campaign:

Trex logo, grey oval                           Glasdon logo

   Dumpsters.com logo               PepsiCo Logo         
Keep America Beautiful - Green Trees Logo

Green Grants Logo

Five Fall Green Grants Awarded

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Green Grants LogoAs we continue to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of Keep Virginia Beautiful, we’re happy to announce five Fall Green Grants were awarded to our local affiliates and allied partners!  These organizations work hard year-round to keep their communities clean and green.  Here are the awards for this special Fall Green Grants Program:

Upper Tennessee River Roundtable, $1,000 for Recycling
UTRR plans to conduct its second Fix-it-Fair for the citizens of Russell County. The first fair, held in the fall of 2022, was a rousing success. The event will have six “fixers” available:  mending/sewing, furniture repair, small appliance repair, evaluation of electronics, and jewelry repair. The fixers will offer to repair the items free of charge to the citizens.

The purpose of the Fair is to encourage people to repair items they already have, instead of throwing them away and buying a new product.  That’s a great way to recycle and reuse!

Keep Suffolk Beautiful, $500 for Litter Prevention
KSB launched a successful litter kit lending program with Suffolk Public Libraries several years ago.  It allows residents with library cards to “check out” litter kits (for 4 people) from each of their public library locations.  The Library Lending Litter Kit program is widely used, and is in need of repair or replacement of supplies, as well as a fresh logo and marketing to reach additional library patrons.

Having supplies for a litter cleanup is a great way for families or neighbors to safely remove litter from the landscape.  If you’re a resident of Suffolk, we encourage you to go to your local library and “Check it out!”

Keep James City County Beautiful, $1,000 for Community Beautification
KJCCB currently works with Master Gardeners on two gardens on County property:  the Pollinator Garden at Veterans Park, and the Water-Wise Demonstration Garden at the Human Services Building. KJCCB will use grant funds to purchase plant markers for both gardens and an educational sign about the Water Wise garden, to replace an outdated sign with no information.

Helping the public to identify and learn more about native plants is a great way to increase the number of backyards that include native plants for enjoyment by pollinators and neighbors!

askHRgreen, $1,000 for Litter Prevention
askHRgreen.org is a public awareness program of the 17 cities and counties of Hampton Roads that encourages environmental stewardship among all residents in southeastern Virginia.  They host hundreds of small local cleanups throughout the year.  A lack of litter grabbers and other cleanup supplies has been a barrier in the past to recruiting volunteers. Funds from this grant will be used to purchase 150 litter grabbers and 40 five-gallon buckets to create 40 additional litter kits for public use.

In a coastal region like Hampton Roads, litter on the ground almost always travels into a waterway becoming marine debris and harming natural systems.  The litter kits will enable volunteers to clean up land areas and water ways!

Clean Valley Council, $1,000, for Recycling
CVC will host their first “Reuse it and Repair it Fair,” where residents with lightly damaged or broken items will connect with local skilled volunteers to fix them. Items such as electronics, bicycles, clothing, shoes, small appliances, musical instruments, athletic equipment, and jewelry will be accepted.  Grant funds will be used to purchase basic tools and supplies, and will include activities for children, enabling them to learn how to accomplish simple repairs.

Entrance to the Fair will be free. Local nonprofit partners will be on site as well, offering their services to the community.

Congratulations to our Fall Green Grant Awardees!  This brings our total to 35 awards for Green Grants projects and programs during 2023 – which means we’re halfway to our goal of supporting 70 community projects to celebrate our 70th Anniversary.

We’ll be announcing more information soon about the remaining 35 Green Gifts that we’re giving away this fall!

Reusable Zipper Snack Bag

Green Gift Giving

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Reusable Zipper Snack Bag
Reusable Zipper Snack Bag

If you’re shopping for Birthday, celebratory milestone, or holiday gifts, there are alternatives to purchasing “more stuff.”  There are plenty of options that are meaningful, personal, and eco-friendly.

Consider giving an experience, such as tickets to an event, such as the movies, a local team sport, or live performance.  Or membership to a place or cause that is important to the gift recipient, like a museum, botanical gardens, or amusement park.  If you’re the type that likes to give a gift that has something tangible to open, visit the gift shop of that destination, online or in person, to purchase a small gift — a stuffed toy, water bottle, or key chain, for example. You can attach the gift card or electronic receipt to it, so you can present them with a wrapped gift.

Some experiences can be from the heart instead of the wallet.  Offer to babysit for a mom who would enjoy a break, make dinner for your grandfather who’s on his own, or teach a skill like knitting or wood-working for someone who’s always wanted to learn.  Create a gift certificate to make it more official.  Microsoft has free templates here that you can personalize by filling in the blanks.

However, there are also eco-friendly gifts that are clever and useful.  Sustainable products are very trendy and readily available:

  • Earthy Child uses plastic grocery bags and donated yarn for knitting and crocheting bags, hats, clothes, and mermaids.
  • Hamilton Perkins Collection upcycles vinyl billboards into beautiful and fashionable totes, backpacks, and bags of all shapes and sizes.
  • A ministry called Peace Cycle offers tote bags, bibs, and purses made from discarded plastic.
  • Green Spot Shop is an Etsy shop that makes and sells washable sponges, cloth napkins, and reusable makeup wipes.
  • Eco Maniac Company, offers many reusable alternatives to single-use plastics, and other Fair-Trade gifts.

Hope these ideas help you with your gift-giving choices.  We know they’ll help the environment!

Cleanup Kit Gift

Last Minute Green Gift Idea

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Cleanup Kit GiftSo you’re down to the wire if you’re shopping for a Christmas present this week.  With shipping delays, product shortages (especially if you’re gifting toilet paper or Clorox wipes), or simply a lack of inspiring ideas, gift-giving can be a challenge this year.  But we can help!

Here’s a gift idea that’s sure to please the green guy or gal in your life, and you can make it happen in time for Christmas giving.  It’s a gift that is good for the environment, it will make you feel good, and it will make everyone who cares about a clean landscape grateful!  Oh, and it will make us happy too!

It’s a Deluxe Individual Cleanup Kit!  It includes a sturdy ArcMate trash grabber, a Class 3 safety vest, trash bags, recycling bags, and a pair of washable/reusable cotton work gloves!  For a minimum donation of $100, we will ship to you or to a name and address that you provide.  It’s a gift that will be used all year round, because there’s a lot of work to be done.

And since Santa’s Elves at FedEx won’t be able to complete the actual shipment this week, we will send an email gift announcement to you or the gift recipient so they will know that you cared enough about them and the environment to give them a Deluxe Cleanup Kit.

It’s a win-win done!

You can also make a donation to our organization as a tribute to someone, or in memory of a loved one who’s gone.  What better way to honor someone you care about, while helping us with our mission to improve our natural and scenic environment?

We’re grateful for the people who continued to work hard this year, cleaning up on their own, wearing masks, keeping socially distant, and caring enough to remove litter from our landscape.  Especially this year with the addition of all the disposable PPE, the litter problem isn’t going away by itself.

Be part of the solution, support Keep Virginia Beautiful today!

Globe with gifts

Deluxe Cleanup Kits Available

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Earth and Presents

It’s time to think about the gift-giving season!  And here’s a suggestion for a gift idea that you can get for yourself or the Earth-loving-environmentalist on your list!

For every donation to Keep Virginia Beautiful of $100 or more, you will receive (or you can send as a gift) a Deluxe Cleanup Kit, while supplies last!  Similar group kits were very popular during our recent Cleanup Kit Giveaway, with people asking how they could get their hands on one if their name wasn’t drawn to win a kit.  So we thought we’d offer an individual kit as a way to help us help you!

The Deluxe Cleanup Kit includes: one sturdy ArcMate trash grabber, a Class 3 safety vest, trash bags, recycling bags, and a pair of cotton work gloves.  That’s everything you need to make your litter cleanups safer and easier!

Is the Earth on your gift list?  There are many things we can do to be thoughtful of our planet during this holiday season.  Here are just a few:

  • Give the gift of your time instead of more stuff — someone who lives alone might enjoy sharing a meal you bring to them, or a bowl of popcorn and a rented movie to watch with you.  Maybe a Mom with a couple of kids might enjoy a coupon for babysitting!
  • Try not to buy into the latest trends.  A product with a short-lifespan, or cheap gadgets and toys will end up at the landfill.
  • Local artists offer very unique and personal gifts.  Places like Torpedo Factory Art Center in Northern Virginia, ‘Round the Mountain in Southwest Virginia, Shenandoah Valley Arts Center, the Artists Gallery in Virginia Beach, and Crossroads Art Center in Richmond are just a few places where you can find a wide array of beautiful gifts in all price ranges.

So give it some thought.  A gift that’s good for the Earth can come straight from your heart.  And that’s the best kind of gift there is!