Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful Has Successful Spring

Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful, a local Keep America Beautiful affiliate, held several Great American Cleanup activities during the months of March, April and May. The 2010 Great American Cleanup, a national campaign organized by nonprofit Keep America Beautiful, estimated that three million volunteers participated nationwide.

The national 2010 theme, “Green Starts Here,” encourages volunteer groups, community leaders and people of all ages and walks of life to begin creating more sustainable communities through their efforts as volunteers and through their daily choices and actions. It also reflects Keep America Beautiful’s legacy of community improvement activities.

Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful events included Community Pride Day, Valley Point Ruritan Club Park Cleanup and Adopt-a-Mile cleanups. Participants in Adopt a Mile included Textile Rubber & Chemical, Whitfield Co. 4-H, Styron LLC (formerly Dow Chemical) and the Mayo Family. Several recycling education sessions and a backyard composting session were held with the support of the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority. 

This year KDWB logged the participation of 144 volunteers with a total of 539 volunteer hours of work valued at $11,000. Over 73,660 pounds of litter, debris and bulky waste were collected in the city of Dalton and Whitfield County. Nine miles of road and three acres of parks were cleaned through the efforts of the volunteers. An estimated 610 people attended educational sessions, and over 1,028 residents participated in the variety of events. 

Liz Swafford, executive director of Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful, said, “We would like to thank our national sponsors, Nestlé, Pure Life, Purified Water and the Glad Products Company who supported our events during the Great American Cleanup by providing generous donations of their products. The bottled water and trash bags facilitated several of our local events. Those ranged from litter cleanups to educational sessions about reusing and recycling.” 

The largest event was Community Pride Day during the Great American Cleanup that took place April 18 at the Old Dixie Landfill and Convenience Center, Westside Middle School, North Whitfield Middle School and Eastbrook Middle School. Approximately 577 residents of Whitfield County visited the locations to drop off their bulky waste for disposal and electronics for recycling with no fees. 34.2 tons or 68,400 pounds of bulky waste were disposed of, and 7.3 tons or 14,600 pounds of electronics were collected for recycling. 

“Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful would like to thank the 51 volunteers and staff from KDWB, Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority, and Whitfield County Public Works for making this event possible,” said Ms. Swafford. 

Disposal of bulky items is available year round with no fees at the Old Dixie Landfill and Convenience Center. The same location hosts a drop-off box for recycling electronics (a fee for televisions applies). For more information please visit www.DWSWA.org or call (706)278-5001.

Visit www.KeepDaltonWhitfieldBeautiful.org or call (706)226-6211 to find out more.