Get involved in litter prevention in your community!
Litter is a problem faced by all Georgia communities, large and small, rural and urban. Many people don't realize how bad litter is in their community until it is brought to their attention. But litter costs you in many ways.
- It costs you money. Georgia communities spend millions of dollars every year to clean up litter. The Georgia Department of Transportation alone spends more than $14 million a year just on state roads. Spending money to clean up litter means it isn't available for other important programs such as schools, libraries, and parks.
- It costs you health. Litter attracts insects, rodents and other pests that can bring diseases to your community and make people sick.
- It costs you beauty. Litter destroys your community's natural beauty and deprives you of nice places to live, work and play.
- It costs you safety. Litter can be dangerous. Each year people are hurt or even killed when items fall out of vehicles causing accidents.
Tackling litter involves more than just cleaning it up. It also means educating people about the costs of litter as well as adopting litter ordinances and enforcing litter laws. The Youth Clean Community Challenge is designed to encourage youth organizations and schools to take an active role in developing litter education, enforcement and eradication/clean-up activities.
To get a free YCCC poster to promote litter prevention in your community or if you have any questions about the Challenge, please contact Lynn Cobb at 404-679-4910 or lynn.cobb@dca.ga.gov.
Take the Youth Clean Community Challenge to combat litter in
your school, neighborhood or community. Here's how:
Directions for Elementary School Aged Participants
- Register
for the Youth Clean Community Challenge.
Register online After you register, you will receive information about the Litter. It Costs You statewide anti-litter campaign. You should incorporate this campaign logo and message into your Youth Clean Community Challenge projects.
- Get the facts and learn about litter.
All groups participating in the Youth Clean Community Challenge must complete three Litter. It Costs You lessons. Suggested lessons are available online or on the back of the Youth Clean Community Challenge poster. Groups must complete a lesson in each of the three core litter prevention areas required to combat litter including education, enforcement and eradication/clean-up.
- Take
action!
In order to qualify for recognition through the Youth Clean Community Challenge, organizations must also take action in at least one of the core litter prevention areas. Participants must develop and implement the anti-litter activity in their community. Examples of action steps in each core litter prevention area include:
Education - Teach the Litter. It Costs You lessons to another class or organization.
- Create a display about litter for your school or community library.
- Create a radio or television public service announcement for your school or local media.
- Organize a poster contest with the theme of Litter.
It Costs You.
- Take a litter pledge and pass a "no littering" rule for your class, school or organization. Decide as a group on what the consequences for breaking the litter pledge. Appoint a student as your Code Enforcement Officer to monitor littering.
- Research your community's litter laws and talk to members of the police department to find out why these laws are sometimes difficult to enforce.
- Prepare a presentation and teach another class or organization about litter laws and why they are important.
- Follow a littering or illegal dumping case from the point of citation through the court system.
- Organize a cleanup of your school, neighborhood or another area. Schedule your cleanup in April in conjunction with the Great American Cleanup.
- Partner with your local Keep America Beautiful affiliate, Rivers Alive program, or another organization for a clean-up activity. See a list of resources available in your community.
- Help
landscape a previously littered area to discourage future
littering.
- Groups that take action in at least one litter prevention area will receive a certificate for the organization and a Youth Clean Community Challenge wristband for each participant.
- Certificates and participant prizes are distributed on an ongoing basis.
- Download the Elementary School Level Report Form here. If photos are larger than 2 MB, please submit your report by mail. Submit it electronically to: lynn.cobb@dca.ga.gov or mail to:
Eradication/Cleanup
Report Your Success!
The Youth Clean Community Challenge
Attn: Lynn Cobb
Keep Georgia Beautiful
60 Executive Park South, NE
Atlanta, GA 30329
Directions for Middle/High School Aged Participants
- Register for the Youth Clean Community Challenge.
Register online After you register, you will receive information about the Litter. It Costs You statewide anti-litter campaign. You should incorporate this campaign logo and message into your Youth Clean Community Challenge projects.
- Get the facts and learn about litter in your community.
All groups participating in the Youth Clean Community Challenge must research the litter problem in their community and identify programs and activities underway in the three core litter prevention areas of education, enforcement and eradication/clean-up. Groups need to answer the following questions:Education
- Who is providing anti-litter education programs in your community? (Include a short description of the programs in your community.)
- Who do these anti-litter programs reach?
- Have you ever had a anti-litter education program? Where?
- Are key target audiences underserved
Enforcement
- What are the littering laws in your community?
- Who is in charge of enforcing them?
- Are the littering laws enforced? Why or why not
Eradication/Clean-Up
- What is your community doing to eradicate litter?
- Does your community have regular, scheduled clean-ups? If so, who participates in them?
- How much does litter clean-up cost in your community?
- Does your community have a beautification program in place to help keep areas clean?
- Are
clean-up efforts successful in your community? Why or
why not?
- Take
action!
In order to qualify for recognition through the Youth Clean Community Challenge, organizations must also take action and create a litter prevention program based on community research. Participants should lead the program and develop concrete, measurable goals and outcomes. The program must focus on at least one of the core litter prevention areas. At the highest level, the program will encompass all three prevention areas. (See the example case study after these steps for more information.)
To get started, participants must conduct a litter index before and after they implement their litter prevention program. A litter index is a tool used to consistently measure the amount of litter in a given area. Find out how to use the litter index and access the online reporting tool. The litter index is one way to measure results. Please enclose/attach a photo of your group and one of their activities. The information and photos you provide may be used on the Litter. It Costs You. website and in future state publications.
Programs must include the following criteria:- Scope/Description of Problem
- Initial Litter Index and Final Litter Index
- Program Goals
- Program Description
- Process Measures
- Outcome Measures
- Future Plans
- Report
Your Success!
- Groups that take action in one core litter prevention area will receive a certificate for the organization and a Youth Clean Community Challenge Wrist Band for each participant.
- Groups that take action in all three core litter prevention areas will receive a certificate and a GPS Unit for the organization and a Youth Clean Community Challenge Wrist Band for each participant.
- Certificates and participant prizes are distributed on an ongoing basis.
- Case studies may be submitted electronically to: lynn.cobb@dca.ga.gov or mailed to:
The Youth Clean Community Challenge
Attn: Lynn Cobb
Keep Georgia Beautiful
60 Executive Park South, NE
Atlanta, GA 30329
by mail.
Youth Clean Community Challenge Case Study
For Middle/High School-Aged Groups
CONTACT INFORMATION
Name of Organization: Anytown 4-H Club
Type of Organization (school, class, 4-H, Beta Club etc.): Public high school 4-H Club
Adult Contact: Sally Smith, Anytown High School
Address: 110 Main St.
City, State Zip: Anytown, GA 11111
Phone Number: 555-555-5555
Email: ssmith@anytown.k12.ga.us
Number of students involved in effort: 25
Student Contact (optional): Jack Jones
Phone Number: 555-555-5559
Email: jjones@anytown.net
SCOPE/DESCRIPTION OF PROBLEM
We researched the litter problem in Anytown, Georgia and
determined that Main Street Park has a consistent litter
problem. Each year, the Parks Department pays $10,000
to clean it up. In addition, the Friends of Main
Street Park and the local Keep Georgia Beautiful affiliate
host periodic clean-ups of the park to help the Parks
Department and to educate citizens. Despite these efforts,
the park receives little use because it is usually so
littered. Much of the litter appears to come from the
trashcans of neighboring businesses.
INITIAL LITTER INDEX: 2.5
FINAL LITTER INDEX: 2.0
PROGRAM GOALS
- Decrease litter in Main Street Park.
- Encourage businesses near the Park to practice proper waste disposal.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Education: We educated the community about the litter problem by
creating a brochure for businesses that included proper
waste disposal methods. We distributed it to local
businesses and asked for their support in keeping the park
clean.
Enforcement: We learned that our town has an ordinance requiring
commercial trash containers to be covered. Our
county's code enforcement officer is responsible for
enforcing this ordinance. We asked the code
enforcement officer to patrol the businesses around the park
on a more regular basis.
Eradication: We partnered with the local Garden Club and Keep Georgia
Beautiful affiliate to have a special park cleanup day. Our
research indicated that beautiful areas are less likely to
be littered, so we also partnered with the Parks Department
to plant some new flowers and shrubs.
PROCESS MEASURES (What measures did you find during
implementation?)
- 12 businesses received information on proper waste disposal methods.
- 50 volunteers spent 4 hours cleaning up at the park collecting 200 bags of trash. 100 annuals, 15 shrubs and 3 trees were planted to beautify the park and discourage littering.
- The code enforcement officer conducted 2 additional patrols a week during the project period and issued 4 citations.
OUTCOME MEASURES (Did you achieve your goals?)
- The second litter index revealed a .5 decrease in litter.
- 9 area businesses have pledged to practice proper waste disposal.
HOW DID YOUR PROJECT MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Local businesses have embraced the program and are practicing better waste management practices. This has really improved the appearance and health of our park making it an enjoyable place for citizens to spend their time. The Parks department has been able to use the money saved for new playground equipment and the community has a new found pride in Main Street Park.
