Press Release: Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful Announces Winners of Great American Cleanup 2016

Local Keep America Beautiful Affiliate Shines the Spotlight on Environmental Stewards and their Accomplishments during Annual Community Cleanup Campaign  

Gwinnett Parks and Rec - Lucky Shoals Park Cleanup - GAC 2016Duluth, Georgia, June 28, 2016 – On the heels of its three-month-long Great American Cleanup campaign, North Georgia-based Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful (GCB) is delighted to celebrate some stellar results from thousands of outstanding environmental stewards. Created by Keep America Beautiful in 1999 and promoted locally by Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful in all the years since its launch, Great American Cleanup is the nation’s largest community improvement program.

“We did things a little differently this year by tying the Great American Cleanup to our ongoing ME Campaign,” said Sumner Gann, Interim Executive Director for Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful. “Representative of ‘My Environment,’ the ME Campaign signifies a partnership between GCB and the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners to inspire local citizens, civic groups, school clubs, community organizations and small business to take action and show individual initiative by lending their time and talents for the benefit of the environment we all share. The hope is that members of the Gwinnett County community will all work together to keep ‘ME’ clean. Judging from the level of involvement and results we’ve witnessed, that message is clearly resounding countywide. All told, we engaged more than 7,500 participants in 193 community improvement projects for this year’s Great American Cleanup. Over the course of just 92 days, participants collected more than 4.1 million pounds of recyclables – that’s enough to fill the recycling bins at more than 27,000 homes. They also cleaned and beautified 365 miles of roadway throughout the county, and picked up 36,720 pounds of litter from Gwinnett’s roadsides – filling enough garbage bags to stretch nearly a mile. We are so proud of the hard work displayed by each and every participant, and are delighted to honor the five most outstanding projects.”

Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful is pleased to announce the following winners of the 2016 Great American Cleanup – Gwinnett Challenge, the categories they won and the projects that garnered them a prize of $500 each:

  • Winner: United Peachtree Corners Civic Association & City of Peachtree Corners

Winning Project: Answering the call for the “Keep ME Clean – Stop Litter and Graffiti” Category, 55 volunteers collected 1260 lbs. of trash at six locations in the city of Peachtree Corners.

  • Winner: Gwinnett County Parks & Recreation

Winning Project: In response to the “Make ME Green– Beautify your Neighborhood” Category, 33 volunteers spent 99 total man hours picking up trash and beautifying Lucky Shoals Park.

  • Winner: Lanier High School

Winning Project: For the “Educate ME – Teach Others How to Rethink the Way They Recycle” Category, 1700 volunteers spent more than 900 total man hours to collect hundreds of books for Friends of Refugees – a local nonprofit created to empower refugees through opportunities that provide for their well-being, education, and employment.

  • Raw Evolution Studios - Upcycled Art - GAC 2016Winner: Raw Evolution Studios

Winning Project: In a visually stunning response to the “Inspire ME – Discover a Creative Use of a Resource” Category, two volunteers upcycled items thrown away in the trash to create six unique pieces of original art décor.

  • Winner: Peachtree Corners Green Committee

Winning Project: For the “Protect ME – Safeguard our Waterways” Category, eight volunteers collected 10 bags of litter along a half-mile stretch of Crooked Creek – located downstream from Jimmy Carter Boulevard.

In addition to the Great American Cleanup winners, Frank Torres was selected at random to win $100 for taking the pledge to keep Gwinnett clean and beautiful. Trip Elementary School was also awarded $100 in the pledge challenge for encouraging the highest percentage of its students to take the pledge. To learn how to get involved with Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful and take part in future events, caring citizens and aspiring environmental stewards are invited to visit www.GwinnettCB.org.

About Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful:  Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful Services, Inc. (GCB) is a Keep America Beautiful affiliate and award-winning 501(c)(3) charitable organization. It boasts an expansive community-based network dedicated to finding long-term solutions to environmental and quality of life issues through individual action. The organization is guided by a Citizens Advisory Board that represents all sectors of the Gwinnett County community. A nationally recognized leader in creating cleaner, greener and more livable communities throughout Gwinnett, GCB involves more than 100,000 volunteers annually to clean and restore public places, recycle more, protect watersheds and develop the next generation of environmental stewards. To learn more about Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful, please visit www.GwinnettCB.org. 

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