2019 America Recycles Billboard Contest Winner Announced

Eastbrook Middle School 8th grader, Maria Maldanado, is the overall winner of the 2019 America Recycles Day Billboard Design Contest hosted by the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority’s program Target Recycling at School. The winning design will be displayed on two billboards in Whitfield County (one on Cleveland Highway and the other on Thornton Avenue) during the month of November to recognize America Recycles Day on November 15th.

Ms. Maldanado’s design includes the phrase “I recycle. Do you?” as one of the themes of the contest. The artwork puts the focus directly on the message and cleverly uses word art to create a tree out of the recycling symbol as a reminder that the importance of to conserve our natural resources. Every time you drive past it, it can serve as a reminder that it is important for you to recycle your paper and cardboard because every ton recycled saves 17 trees.

The billboard design contest, now in its tenth year, has 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners from each school that submitted entries. The three winners, listed below, received a certificate of participation and a gift bag with items made from recycled materials. The first place overall, who is the winner of the billboard, was selected from the first-place design from each grade level.  

Eastbrook Middle

1)     Maria Maldanado

2)     Samantha Triana

3)     Kaylee Welch

Christian Heritage

1)     Monique Loa

2)     Dayton Nguyen

3)     Norah Henson

New Hope Middle School

1)     Chase Jones

2)     Brandon Ramos

3)     Jessie Lowery

Honorable Mention: Landyn Vali

Target Recycling at School provides recycling collection services and environmental education opportunities to schools in Whitfield County. For more information, call 706-278-5001 or visit www.DWSWA.org.

America Recycles Day is a community-driven event dedicated to promoting recycling awareness, commitment, and action in the U.S. through its partnership with Keep America Beautiful. It’s celebrated annually on November 15. For more information on recycling, and to take the pledge to #BeRecycled visit www.AmericaRecyclesDay.org. 

National Nonprofit Presents 2019 Cigarette Litter Prevention Program Grant to Keep Dalton Whitfield Beautiful

Executive Director, Amy Hartline, poses with one of the specially ordered Ballot Bins to demonstrate how people can vote for one of two options using cigarette litter.

Keep America Beautiful®, the nation’s leading community improvement nonprofit organization, announced it has awarded a 2019 Cigarette Litter Prevention Program® grant to Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful to help it combat the most commonly littered item in America. Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful is one of 50 organizations receiving a Keep America Beautiful Cigarette Litter Prevention Program (CLPP) merit-based grant. Keep Dalton Whitfield Beautiful’s grant award of $2,000 will be used to install special “ballot bins” to encourage people to put their cigarettes in the right place. These bins allow people to “vote” using their cigarettes in a poll with two different options.  “We hope to make keeping our town clean more fun and interactive. That way everyone can feel more pride in the community they’ve created.”, said Executive Director, Amy Hartline.

Communities implementing the CLPP in 2018 reported an average 62 percent reduction of cigarette litter, even greater than the previous year’s average reduction of 52 percent. Cigarette Litter Prevention Program grant funding empowers communities to help mitigate the economic, environmental and quality of-life impact of cigarette butt littering. “Litter is both the smallest and largest problem at the same time,” said Jerred Jones, program director for the CLPP. “Keep America Beautiful is dedicated to educating consumers on the hazards of littering in public spaces and providing the tools to reduce litter. Access to ash receptacles and portable pocket ashtrays are crucial to changing littering behaviors.”

The CLPP, created by Keep America Beautiful in 2002, is the nation's largest program aimed at eliminating cigarette butt and cigar tip litter. Since its inception, the program has been successfully implemented in more than 1,800 urban, suburban and rural communities nationwide. Over the past decade, participating communities have consistently cut cigarette butt litter by 50 percent based on local measurements taken in the first four months to six months after program implementation. Research has shown that even self-reported “non-litterers” often don’t consider tossing cigarette butts on the ground to be "littering." Keep America Beautiful has found that cigarette butt litter occurs most often at transition points—areas where a person must stop smoking before proceeding into another area. These include bus stops, entrances to stores and public buildings, and the sidewalk areas outside of bars and restaurants, among others. The CLPP is supported by funding from Altria, Reynolds American, and the Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company.

Visit www.KeepDaltonWhitfieldBeautiful.org to register for the KDWB newsletter or call 706-278-5001 to find out how you can volunteer or participate in events

2019 School Beautification Grants Available Through Keep Dalton Whitfield Beautiful

Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful is pleased to announce the availability of School Beautification Grants for Fall 2019. The committee for Beautification and Community Greening has established mini-grants in celebration of National Planting Day. Beautification grants may range from a minimum of $100 to a maximum of $500.

Public and private schools in the Dalton, GA and Whitfield County area are invited to apply for funding that can help implement a project related to planting native plants. A school club, a single classroom, whole grade level or the entire school may organize a project and apply for a grant.

National Planting Day is celebrated annually by Keep America Beautiful in the fall as an opportunity to encourage volunteers to plant native species restoring ecological balance to the environment while creating greener, more beautiful communities. Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful is making these grants available to improve the visual aspects of our community through projects that beautify and clean the environment.

Knowing that children play a very important part in making this happen we want them to reap the benefits by participating in a project for their very own school. Beautification projects could include establishing or supporting a school garden, planting flowers in an outdoor space, or using plants for educational purposes.

Grant applications must be submitted online no later than September 16 at www.KeepDaltonWhitfieldBeautiful.org using the form on the Beautification Grant Application page.  Previous projects can be seen on the School Beautification Projects Page. 

For questions regarding the form or any aspects of your proposed project call executive director Amy Hartline at 706-278-5001. Grant winners will be announced September 23. Projects must be completed by December 2 and a project summary and photos are to be submitted by December 27. 

2018 School Beautification Grant Winners

(Dalton, GA, September 21, 2018) – Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful is pleased to announce the winners of the third annual School Beautification Grants for 2018. The committee for Beautification and Community Greening established the grant program in celebration of National Planting Day, which took place September 8 and is celebrated through the end of October.

Public and private schools in the Dalton, GA and Whitfield County were invited to apply for funding to implement a project related to planting native plants and beautifying the community. Each project aims to improve the visual aspects of the facility or provide an educational opportunity related to plants. The grants range from $250 to $500 which encompassed $83 to each team of one grade.

This year the following five schools were awarded a grant for their National Planting Day project:

1.    Coahulla Creek High School: Creating the Captivating Courtyard of Coahulla Creek

2.    New Hope Middle School: Georgia Native Plants Beautification Project

3.    Park Creek Elementary School: Berry Beautiful

4.    Morris Innovative High School: MIHS Pep Club Garden and Picnic Area

5.    Dalton Middle School: Team Trees

Projects will be completed by December 3 and each recipient will submit a project summary by December 21 to showcase their work. Visit Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful’s website www.KeepDaltonWhitfieldBeautiful.org or follow them on Facebook to get updates on the progress of these projects.  

National Planting Day is celebrated annually by Keep America Beautiful in the fall as an opportunity to encourage volunteers to plant native species restoring ecological balance to the environment while creating greener, more beautiful communities. Learn more about this event at www.kab.org.

23rd Annual Conasauga Watershed Clean-Up Next Saturday at 7 Locations

Whitfield County and Murray County residents are invited to participate in the 23rd Annual Conasauga Watershed Clean-up event on Saturday, October 28 to help keep local waterways clean at one of seven locations.

One of the largest local volunteer events in the community the annual Conasauga River Clean-up is hosted in partnership with several local non-profits, businesses, and environmental organizations during United Way’s Make a Difference Day.

Last year 290 volunteers picked up and removed more than 10,000 pounds of garbage from seven locations. “Volunteers that come out and participate are of all ages and walks of life so it is a wonderful opportunity to get to know other people while doing a service for your community.” Said Amelia Atwell, an event participant.

One of the six most biologically diverse freshwater river systems in the United States, the Conasauga River supports 24 endangered species and a dozen other imperiled species, including the Southern Pigtoe mussel and the Conasauga logperch, a fish found nowhere else in the world.

This year’s event takes place concurrently from 9:00 am to noon at seven different sites across both Whitfield and Murray counties. Be a part of the tradition by volunteering at one of the following locations:

1. Conasauga River at Carlton Petty Road bridge

2. Conasauga River at Highway 2 bridge

3. Conasauga River at Lower King’s Bridge and Norton Bridge

4. Holly Creek, Murray County, on the Chattahoochee National Forest

5. Mill Creek tributary in the City of Dalton

6. Coahulla Creek at Prater’s Mill

7. Lakeshore Park in the City of Dalton

Participants are encouraged to arrive early for on-site registration. Volunteers can expect to spend a couple of hours in the morning picking up trash and, depending on the location, removing invasive plants like Chinese privet. Volunteers should wear sturdy shoes or boots, long pants, and long sleeve shirts. Gloves, and trash bags will be provided at each site. T-shirts with this year’s river cleanup logo will be available on a first come first serve basis.  

To learn more about the river cleanup call Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful at 706-278-5001 or visit www.KeepDaltonWhitfieldBeautiful.org to download the event flyer with directions to each site. Join and share the event on Facebook page at www.facebook.com/KeepDaltonWhitfieldBeautiful.

Gretchen Lugthart, a long-time organizer of the event, stated “I think we have made some progress regarding people’s attitudes toward trash in this region, but until everyone respects our beautiful streams and rivers enough to dispose of trash properly, then we will have work to do.”

Event sponsors and organizers include: Shaw Industries, J+J Flooring Group, The Nature Conservancy, Rivers Alive, Dalton Utilities, United Way of Northwest Georgia, Dalton State College, Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority, Whitfield County Public Works, Conasauga River Alliance, Limestone Valley RC&D, US Forest Service, Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful, Murray County and Whitfield County Extension, Keep Chatsworth-Murray Beautiful, and Murray County Public Works.