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Community-minded tire dealers and other automotive enterprises may wish to take part in the Keep America Beautiful Great American Cleanup campaign, which runs through May 31.
Among other trash, last year’s nationwide volunteer program eliminated from the landscape 1.4 million tires, 137,000 batteries and 15,200 junk cars.
Businesses can initiate educational and promotional efforts along with offering support to local public service groups.
From 2001 to 2008, the Firestone Complete Auto Care and Tires Plus operations enthusiastically embraced the campaign as parent firm Bridgestone Firestone ranked among the top corporate contributors.
While the company no longer sponsors the national organization, in years past, the company donated volunteer hours, supplies, materials and financial support for local events around the country. Additionally, the Tires Plus and Firestone auto centers accepted at no charge used oil, batteries and up to four scrap tires from do-it-yourselfers. Some store locations also made arrangements to recycle tires and other automotive materials collected from community clean-ups.
“For each of the millions of volunteers nationwide, ‘green’ starts with his or her decision to help clean up a local park, an abandoned building lot, a community garden or any of the thousands of sites across the country where volunteers work to improve the community,” says Matthew McKenna, Keep America Beautiful’s president and CEO.
“We’re reminding our friends and our neighbors that ‘Green Starts Here,’ but the impact we create as individuals goes beyond our own community,” he points out.
“We’re greening up parks, schoolyards and other public spaces, holding recycling drives and educational events, painting out graffiti and much more,” McKenna notes.
The 2008 Great American Cleanup efforts improved more than 144,000 miles of roadway; 91,000 acres of parks and public lands; 7,000 miles of rivers, lakes and shorelines; and 6,000 miles of hiking, biking and nature trails.
The amount of rehabilitated illegal dumpsites doubled from the 2007 program to reach 6,500 locations last year. Some 86 million pounds of litter and debris was picked up, including recyclable items such as 186 million plastic PET bottles, 10.2 million pounds of aluminum and steel, 5.3 million pounds of electronics, 37.1 million pounds of newsprint and 5.2 million pounds of clothing.
For 2009, “millions of volunteers across the country will gather during the Great American Cleanup to rid our streets, waterways and public spaces of litter and illegal dumpsites,” says McKenna, inviting you to become involved.
“Ours is not an isolated mission. It requires diverse partnerships with all community stakeholders. Working together — businesses, government, neighborhoods, individuals and other nonprofit teams — we can be successful in improving our communities,” he urges.
For more information, visit www.kab.org.
