The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) were two of 14 Keep America Beautiful State Agency Partner Award recipients recognized by Keep America Beautiful. The award recognizes state agency partners for their support of Keep America Beautiful state affiliates through partnership projects. This award recognizes the value Keep America Beautiful places on public-private partnerships.
The Pennsylvania DEP and PennDOT were recognized for supporting Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful's 2020 community improvement programs and its Pennsylvania Litter Research Study and "The Cost of Litter and Illegal Dumping in Pennsylvania: A Study of Nine Cities Across the Commonwealth."
The DEP has been an important partner to Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful since its inception, providing resources and expertise that enable thousands of volunteers to participate in thousands of community improvement projects from cleanups to plantings in all 67 counties in the state of Pennsylvania each year. In addition, the DEP provided program funding for the purchase of cleanup supplies and encouraged individual waste facilities to provide free or reduced cost disposal for participants registered with Pick Up Pennsylvania, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful's premier community improvement initiative.
PennDOT supported Pick Up Pennsylvania by utilizing its network of 7,500 Adopt-A-Highway groups to promote and encourage participation. PennDOT distributed bags, gloves, and safety vests to all registered participants through its 67 county maintenance facilities throughout the state, where the supplies are more easily accessed by local volunteers.
Both agencies were integral partners for The Pennsylvania Litter Research Study, which documents the quantity, composition, and sources of litter as well as attitudes toward litter and littering in Pennsylvania, and "The Cost of Litter and Illegal Dumping in Pennsylvania: A Study of Nine Cities Across the Commonwealth," which provides a full cost accounting of litter and illegal dumping expenditures as they relate to education and outreach, prevention, abatement, and enforcement. The studies will allow for the development of tailored strategies and initiatives to combat litter within the commonwealth, in addition to providing a basis for future measurement of progress toward reducing litter.
For more information about Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, visit http://www.keeppabeautiful.org.
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