Education Messaging Piloted at Presque Isle State Park Beaches  
Dumpsters are usually off-limits to the public, but on Presque Isle beaches, dumpsters are used instead of trash cans which are small, fill up fast and can be blown over by the lake winds. With funding from the PA Department of Environmental Protection’s Coastal Resources Management, messaging asking visitors to place their trash in the dumpster, will be piloted at Beaches 6 and 8. The message will be displayed on picnic tables, dumpsters, and kiosks in the four most spoken languages in Erie - English, Spanish, Arabic and Nepali. Trash bags will also be provided. The goal is to encourage the use of dumpsters and reduce the amount of trash that makes its way into Lake Erie.

Pick Up Pennsylvania – Supporting the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup 

We want to help you do your part to keep trash out of our oceans. Register a cleanup event with our Pick Up Pennsylvania program, from September 1 through November 30, and receive free trash bags, gloves, and safety vests provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and and Ocean Conservancy and distributed by PennDOT, as supplies last. Both waterway and land-based cleanups are eligible for the program since a significant portion of waterway pollution originates on land. Register your event here.

Annual Joint Fall Conference 

Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful President, Shannon Reiter facilitated a session on Plastic Bag Bans with representatives from both the City of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia at the Annual Joint Fall Conference hosted by Keystone SWANA and Pennsylvania Waste Industries Association. According to the Pennsylvania Litter Study, plastics represents over 30 percent of all litter found on Pennsylvania roadways with plastic film being the most prevalent. With a growing number of Pennsylvania municipalities making the move to ban plastic bags, it was a lively discussion on the efficacy of Bag Bans. Philadelphia’s bag ban (July 1, 2021) resulted in a significant decrease in plastic bag usage in the city after the ban was implemented. According to Philadelphia's Plastic Bag Ban and Changes in Bag Usage in the City, "The decrease in plastic bag usage was greater than the increase in paper bag usage, leading to a reduction in the overall quantity of disposable bags used. Extrapolating the results from a sample to the population of Philadelphia, researchers estimate that the ban led to the prevention of over 200 million disposable plastic bags from being distributed in the city in its first year, which is enough bags to fill City Hall every eight months." 

2022 Healing the Planet Final Report 

In 2022, The GIANT Company provided funding for Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful's Healing the Planet grants for projects aimed at improving the health and quality of waterways to help protect water resources and improve the overall health of communities. Read the final report to learn about these special projects. This grant was funded by the generosity of customers who rounded up at the register at GIANT, MARTIN'S and GIANT Heirloom Market stores.  

Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful named Keep America Beautiful’s Affiliate of the Month
Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful was named Affiliate of the Month by Keep America Beautiful for our innovative partnerships and programs, including the state’s first ever Litter Action Plan. We can all agree with our President, Shannon Reiter, that it’s the people of Pennsylvania that give us meaning and purpose and help make our organization successful. See her interview here.

Deb Woolley, Development Representative, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful helped kick off the 2023 Pennsylvania State Employee Combined Appeal (SECA) Campaign in Harrisburg on September 13.

State Employee Combined Appeal 

We are asking that state employees who believe in a clean and beautiful PA to consider choosing Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful (PA SECA#: 9200-0017) as the recipient of your SECA contribution. The campaign is from September 1 to October 27. Pledges can be made via Employee Self Service or paper pledge form, in the form of easy payroll deductions or one-time donations. A few dollars per paycheck can go a long way towards helping us continue to provide the tools and resources our residents need for community improvement projects. Contributions can be made through SECA’s website or their pledging system.

The City of Philadelphia Employees Combined Campaign is from September 6 to November 24. If you are a city of Philadelphia employee, we hope you consider choosing Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful (#23-0010) as the recipient of your contribution. 

Organized Cleanups vs Solo Efforts

Our friend and fellow cleanup aficionado, Razvan Dominic Ionescu, recently examined the pros and cons of cleaning up in large groups versus alone in his blog post The Power of Unity and Purpose: Organized Cleanups vs Solo Efforts that's a must read if your contemplating a cleanup big or small. If you need even more inspiration for making a positive impact for a cleaner, healthier environment, check out his website or sign up for his weekly e-newsletter here.

“After occasionally picking up litter in my community, I became more interested in overall efforts in this space and connecting with others. That's why I attended the PA Litter Summit last year in Lancaster. It was there that I had a chance to learn more about what is being done throughout the state, the work that Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful and their affiliates are doing, and to meet folks dedicated to a better, cleaner environment.”