Great American Cleanup by Keep America Beautiful nets 200,000 volunteers and over 11,000 events in first half of 2022

Keep America Beautiful®, the nation’s leading community improvement nonprofit organization, announces the first results of the 24th annual Great American Cleanup® (GAC). Over 200,000 volunteers and participants took part in over 11,000 events during the three months of GAC.

Taking place annually each spring, GAC engages the Keep America Beautiful (KAB) network of 700 affiliates and KAB partner organizations to beautify communities across the nation. Activities include removing litter and debris from roadsides, highways, shorelines, and waterways; planting trees, flowers, and gardens; and cleaning and restoring nature trails, recreation areas, and playgrounds. 

The 2022 Great America Cleanup was officially held from March 21 to June 22: 

  • 11,191 Events

  • 208,379 Volunteers and Participants

  • 904,069 Volunteer Hours

  • 14,056,280 Pounds of Litter and Debris Collected

  • 2,449,669 Pounds of Items Recycled

  • 29,979 Acres of Parks, Public Lands, Playgrounds, and Trails Cleaned & Improved

  • 29,358 Miles of Streets, Roads, and Highways Cleaned, Improved or Beautified

  • 702,451 Plants, Shrubs, Flowers, and Bulbs Planted

  • 8,465 Trees Planted

  • $157,832,277 in Benefit to Communities

Highlights of the 2022 Great American Cleanup include: 

  • News reach of 2 billion in earned media

  • National media interviews on The Weather Channel and Fox Weather Channel

  • News articles featuring GAC in the Los Angeles Times, Earth.Org, Treehugger, TheStreet, Cool Deeds, and Tampa Bay Times

  • 2500 free litter removal kits mailed to volunteers for GAC events

  • A first-of-its-kind event kicked off GAC on March 23 – Keep America Beautiful and Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful hosted “Connecting People and Places: A Community Conversation About Litter” at Georgia Gwinnett College


See a full list of GAC 2022 events, highlights, and social media posts by clicking here.

Sponsors for the 2022 Great American Cleanup: Altria, Diageo, Dogfish Head, Dow, Igloo, JOE by Joseph Abboud, McAllister, and Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co. 

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