Adopt a street, stream or spot in your area and KAB will be glad to install an Adopt-a-sign with your group's name on it! We'll provide trash grabbers, gloves, safety vests, trash bags and in most cases we will even collect the trash bags! All you need is a commitment and a site to adopt! Anyone from individuals to industries can adopt!
Remember, there are two Adopt-a-programs in our area:
- Our KAB Adopt-a-spot Program
The KAB Adopt-a-Spot program covers streets (not state roads), streams and spots in cities within Edgecombe and Nash counties. For more information or to volunteer below in this program see below.
- The (NCDOT) Adopt-a-Highway Program
North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) provides an Adopt-a-Highway program designed to cleanup STATE ROADS (those roads with a SR0000 number). Keep America Beautiful can provide supplies for these cleanups when coordinated with NCDOT. For more information and to sign up for this program, visit the North Carolina Department of Transportation Division of Beautification website.
Adopt-a-Spot Guidelines
- You can select any spot or section of a street or stream as long as it is reasonable.
- Adoptions require cleaning of the adoption site on a quarterly basis.
- After your group schedules and reports three cleanups at the site being adopted KAB will install a sign designating your adopted section.
- We ask that you reuse your gloves and vests for additional cleanups.Trash Grabbers must be returned promptly after each cleanup.
- All cleanups must be reported in advance with a pre-cleanup form available for submission or printout on line.
- Event Reports must be submitted on line or called or faxed in at 972-1385.
- Adoption contracts are for 2 years and must be renewed after that time.
- Ages 10 and older may apply. Youths must have adequate adult supervision.
- Recycling is encouraged whenever possible
To adopt a Street, Stream of Spot, click here or call (252) 467-4960 .
Get together with friends, coworkers or be your own one member group! Volunteer from March through May to do your own litter-pickup or community beautification. The Great American Cleanup (make link) is the nation's largest community improvement program with over 2.5 million volunteers!
Register as a new volunteer by clicking here, or call (252) 467-4960 to find out more about the GREAT AMERICAN CLEANUP!
From the bank or a boat, we can help you coordinate your own waterway cleanup! The Tar and its' many creeks are the focus of this fall statewide litter pickup program so get on board!
It's easy to volunteer in Big Sweep! You schedule your cleanup on a street, in a neighborhood, creek, lake or river when it is convenient for your group and KAB provides supplies!
Big Sweep is an event in which volunteers from all across North Carolina -- and approximately 100 countries -- come together to clean up our rivers, lakes, and ocean. It is North Carolina's participation in the International Coastal Cleanup.
NC Big Sweep NC Big Sweep is officially the first Saturday of October. However, in our area we offer programs and volunteer opportunities from Sept. 16th through Oct. 7th to allow avoidance of hurricane interruptions.
In 2007, over 360 volunteers cleaned up sites throughout Nash and Edgecombe Counties! Across the state 18,084 volunteers removed 729,650 pounds of debris from the roadways, beaches, and waterways in North Carolina.
The International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) is the oldest and largest volunteer waterway cleanup effort that records and analyzes debris found during cleanups. The graph below summarizes the sources and activities that pollute our waterways the most.
Overall, shoreline and recreational activities caused 65.1% of the debris found in North Carolina during 2005. An astounding 26.1% of collected items were related to the single activity of smoking (e.g. cigarettes, cigars, and their wrappers). Items from ocean/waterway activities such as fishing lines, fish traps, nets and lures are the most common types of hazardous debris. They can stay in the water and entangle the fish, birds, invertebrates, and mammals that make our waters so rich. These items made up 4.7% of the debris found in North Carolina.
Reporting the most frequently found items has been an integral part of the ICC and NC Big Sweep. Three items -- cigarettes, food wrappers, and beverage bottles -- make up nearly half of all debris!
Unfortunately, cigarettes, food wrappers, and beverage bottles have been at the top of the list for a long time which means that old habits are hard to break and that people still assume their individual impact on the problem is minimal or unimportant. The fact is that litter causes serious problems with all forms of aquatic life. This in turn affects fisheries, recreation and tourism, some of our states major sources of income.
Register as a new volunteer by clicking here, or call (252) 467-4960 to find out more about NC BIG SWEEP!
LITTER EDUCATION PROGRAMSWould you like to educate kids or civic groups about litter? Would you like to have a presentation given to your school or civic group? Our programs typically focus on waste reduction, reuse and recycling and employ several different educational resources and tools.
DOWNEAST FESTIVAL, EXPOS AND FAIRS
Help get the litter free word out by volunteering at a festival, expo or fair. Keep America Beautiful has a beautiful new display for promotion of the program but we need your help handing out fliers and answering questions! If you have an event that you think could help us get the word out please call 972-1327.
ARBOR DAY WITH TREE POWER
Give a bird a home and plant free trees on Arbor Day! Be one of the thousands of people that receive a dogwood tree from Tree Power each year or volunteer to plant a tree!
ANNUAL LITTER INDEX
Be a serious litter volunteer and help with a survey of the litter condition of our streets! A necessary part of the KAB program, the annual LITTER INDEX is conducted to allow us to assess our progress in making our communities litter free!
Register as a KAB volunteer by clicking here, or call (252) 467-4960 to find out more about any of our programs.
