Prescription Drug Turn In:

Saturday, September 25, 2010. Opportunity to clean out your medicine chest and safely dispose of unused and unwanted medication.  Contact us for more information.

Recycling:

Keep Alachua County Beautiful has an ongoing commitment to educating the community about the importance of recycling.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 33 percent of all of the waste produced by Americans can be recycled or composted. Recycling is important because the more people recycle, the less trash ends up in landfills, which are becoming increasingly packed to the brim.

Please plan to come out to The Big and Hearty Music and Art Festival on Labor Day Weekend.  KACB will team with Waste Pro to promote recycling.

Litter Prevention and Abatement:

Motorists generate 52.2 percent of litter and pedestrians 17.5 percent. Motorists not properly securing truck or cargo loads and collection vehicles represent 20.7 percent of roadway litter four inches plus. Tobacco products represent roughly 38 percent of all U.S. roadway litter (Keep America Beautiful, Inc.). Keep Alachua County Beautiful is committed to addressing the problem of litter as a health and safety concern as well as an aesthetic blight. Our Cigarette Litter Prevention Program is set to begin in June of 2010, and we will be posting information as we progress.

Children and Youth: 

Our programs to foster environmental awareness are key in working with the younger residents of Alachua County.  We conduct programs on recycling and litter and some of our students have established a "pen pal" relationship with Evie, a litter abatement golden retriever of Evansville, Indiana www.keb.com.  Our One Room School House partners along with Kohl's department store employees, have been working with us in a program designed by Cornell University. This summer we will be laying the foundations for two programs we plan to introduce in the Fall , a new Graffiti Hurts / El Grafiti Causa Dano segment and Nature Explore, a collaborative effort of KAB, The Arbor Day Foundation and Dimensions Educational Research Foundation.

We collaborate with The Hippodrome Theatre's Education Department in their community action workshops for social change and are active participants in GPD's Black on Black Crime Task Force.

Graffiti Abatement:

KACB has a long history of graffiti abatement. We encourage Alachua county residents and visitors to report graffiti to us at our website or at 352.371.9444.  Through our program, sites are identified, owners' permission is sought and the vandalism is repaired.  We are beginning steps to increase our cooperative efforts with GPD, ASO, and Code Enforcement as we continue to rely on our Graffiti Abatement Technician, student volunteers and Teen Court community service workers to decrease the incidence of this potentially hazardous blight.

Community Cleanups:

Four years ago, we began a project to decrease neighborhood dependence on government resources.  Our neighborhood committee, under the leadership of Gainesville Police Department's CPL. Audrey Mazzucca, enjoys the participation of Gainesville and Alachua County neighborhood leaders as well as representatives of the Gainesville Police Department and the Alachua County Sheriff's Office.  We have successfully eliminated Level One cleanups and have reduced the number of Level Two cleanups. Through KACB's assistance, residents assume a significant role in arranging and coordinating these cleanups.  KACB continues to provide volunteers and the numbers of resident volunteers continues to climb!

Community Gardens:

KACB has long been a supporter of community gardens.  We were active participants in the Grove Street Neighborhood' "Dreamers Garden" and initiated the Woodland Park Boys and Girls Club Children's Garden "Cultivating Kids." Keep America Beautiful has recognized our Woodland Park project by awarding us first place nationally.

Now, in mid 2010, we are in conversation with the Community Redevelopment Agency, Florida Organic Growers and Edible Landscapers about expanding our interests into the greater Gainesville area.

The Great American Cleanup:

During the 2009 Great American Cleanup, volunteers picked up and recycled 24,905 lbs of plastic bottles; 13,712 lbs of aluminum cans; and 302,759 lbs of paper products. These numbers show how essential recycling litter is as opposed to just throwing it away.

KACB teamed up the Gainesville Raceway and Coca-Cola for the Give It Back recycling program during the 2010 Gatornationals. Volunteers handed out bags to race fans and encouraged them to recycle as much as they could during their time at Gatornationals. The program collected 1.17 tons of plastic recyclables and hopes to get even more next year.