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Keep America Beautiful's famous 1971 Ad Campaign, featuring Iron Eyes Cody, the "Crying Indian"

Keep America Beautiful is an environmental organization founded in 1953. It is the largest community improvement organization in the United States, with over 560 affiliate organizations (similar to local chapters) and more than 15,000 participating communities in their signature annual event - the Great American Cleanup.

KAB focuses on three key issues: litter prevention, the waste hierarchy: waste reduction, reuse, recycling and community beautification (tree planting, community gardens). This is accomplished through a combination of community organizing, public education and the fostering of public/private partnerships.

History

Keep America Beautiful was founded in 1953 by consortium of American businesses, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and concerned individuals in reaction to the growing problem of highway litter that followed the construction of the Interstate Highway System, and an increasingly mobile and convenience-oriented American consumer. The goal of the organization was to reduce the visual blight of litter on the landscape by creating a national anti-litter ethic through public education and advertising.

KAB had many early localized ad campaigns, including an effort in Pennsylvania that coined the term "litterbug." Another popular television campaign theme from the mid 1960's was “Every Litter Bit Hurts” featuring character "Susan Spotless."

In the early 1970's, a new campaign was launched with the theme “People Start Pollution, People Can Stop It” featuring the now iconic "Crying Indian," Iron Eyes Cody.

In 1975 KAB introduced its "Clean Community System" which encouraged local communities to prevent litter through a "normative change process" that included education efforts, advertising, local research and mapping of litter "hotspots," and clean up activities. The Clean Community System evolved into KAB's current network of Affiliates - roughly 580 local "Keep MyTown Beautiful" organizations nationwide.

In 1999 KAB introduced the "Great American Cleanup" campaign, where volunteers are organised to clean up litter and illegal dumpsites in their communities, remove graffiti, and beautify by planting trees, flowers and other greenery. In 2007, the event drew 2.8 million volunteers nationwide.

Accomplishments

KAB is best known for the famous "Crying Indian" public service advertisement (PSA) which launched on Earth Day in 1971. This advertising campaign has been widely credited with inspiring America's fledgling environmental movement.

KAB was the first organization to bring littering to national attention and made "litterbug” a household word.

Great American Cleanup

In 2007, the Great American Cleanup accomplishments included:

Litter & debris collected: 200,000,000 lb
Roads, street & highways cleaned: 178,000 miles
RR tracksides cleaned: 1,900 miles (3,058 km)
Area of parks & public lands cleaned: 121,000 acres
Hiking, biking & nature trails cleaned: 3,900 miles (6,277 km)
Playgrounds & community recreation areas cleaned/restored/constructed: 3,300
Rivers, lakes & shoreline cleaned: 7,000 miles
Underwater cleanups conducted: 147
Wetlands restored: 2,100 acres
Illegal dumpsites cleaned: 3,500
Junk cars removed: 10,400

Reduce, reuse, recycle

Clothing collected for reuse: 4,500,000 lb
Aluminum & steel recycled: 22,400,000 lb
Newspaper recycled: 23,000,000 lb
Tires collected for recycling: 2,200,000
Automotive batteries collected for recycling: 115,000
Electronics recycled: 5,300,000 lb
PET (plastic) bottles collected for recycling: 70,600,000

Beautification

Trees planted: 121,500
Flowers and bulbs planted: 5,430,000
Homes & commercial buildings painted/renovated: 2,300
Graffiti sites abated: 18,600

Education

Educational workshops held: 6,500
Educational workshop attendees: 485,000

External links

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 ==History==
-Keep America Beautiful was founded in 1953 by group of businessmen from the beverage and packaging industries who were concerned that government would make them responsible for solving the litter problem by regulating their industries. Howard Chase was an early PR consultant to KAB and in the 1970's went on to become vice president and assistant to the chairman for public affairs of the American Can Company. [1]
+Keep America Beautiful was founded in 1953 by consortium of American businesses, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and concerned individuals in reaction to the growing problem of highway litter that followed the construction of the [[Interstate Highway System]], and an increasingly mobile and convenience-oriented American consumer. The goal of the organization was to reduce the visual blight of litter on the landscape by creating a national anti-litter ethic through public education and advertising.
-KAB's first campaign theme was “Every Litter Bit Hurts” and was supported by major environmental organisations.
+KAB had many early localized ad campaigns, including an effort in Pennsylvania that coined the term "litterbug." Another popular television campaign theme from the mid 1960's was “Every Litter Bit Hurts” featuring character "Susan Spotless."
-In the early 1970s a new campaign was launched with the theme “People Start Pollution, People Can Stop It”. Environmentalists were not happy with the campaign theme and wanted KAB to focus on making producers responsible for packaging waste, but KAB's industry backers refused.
+In the early 1970's, a new campaign was launched with the theme “People Start Pollution, People Can Stop It” featuring the now iconic "Crying Indian," [[Iron Eyes Cody]].
+In 1975 KAB introduced its "Clean Community System" which encouraged local communities to prevent litter through a "normative change process" that included education efforts, advertising, local research and mapping of litter "hotspots," and clean up activities. The Clean Community System evolved into KAB's current network of Affiliates - roughly 580 local "Keep MyTown Beautiful" organizations nationwide.
-In 1974 KAB publicly opposed California's proposed bottle bill. However due to reactions that the organisation was self-serving, they decided to drop any official position on the issue. KAB changed their approach to promote alternatives to bottle bills instead.
-In 1975 KAB introduced a Clean Community System campaign which encouraged local communities to clean up their litter and had the effect of keeping interest in bottle bills at bay.
+In 1999 KAB introduced the "Great American Cleanup" campaign, where volunteers are organised to clean up litter and illegal dumpsites in their communities, remove graffiti, and beautify by planting trees, flowers and other greenery. In 2007, the event drew 2.8 million volunteers nationwide.
-In 1976, more than a dozen environmental and citizens groups quit KAB after a member of the board of directors called for the organisation to oppose four upcoming bottle bills.
-In the 1980s the Clean Community System expanded and became more focussed on encouraging people to recycle.
-In the 1990s there was a new campaign theme “Let’s not waste the 1990’s” which purported to support a sensible strategy to managing waste with source reduction, recycling, composting, incineration and sanitary landfilling. In practice, however, the campaign did not attempt to implement any real methods or targets for achieving improvements.
-In 1999 KAB introduced the "Great American Cleanup" campaign, where volunteers are organised to clean up their communities.
-==Funding Contrversy==
-The Container Recycling Institute reports: "The most outspoken opponents to bottle bills are almost exclusively the big-name beverage producers. The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, Anheuser Busch, and their bottlers and distributers fight deposit laws at every turn. Retail grocers and liquor storeowners also oppose deposit laws, and in recent years, waste haulers and owners of materials recovery facilities who want the revenue from valuable aluminum cans have joined the opposition. ... Enter Keep America Beautiful. Though their name paints a rosy picture of environmentalism, Keep America Beautiful (KAB) promotes landfilling and incineration of waste, and refuses to accept bottle bills as a viable method of litter reduction.
 ==Accomplishments==
@@ Line 31: / Line 21: @@
 KAB was the first organization to bring [[littering]] to national attention and made "litterbug” a household word.
+==Great American Cleanup ==
-In 2006, their accomplishments included:
+In 2007, the Great American Cleanup accomplishments included:
+* Litter & debris collected: 200,000,000 lb
-===Cleanups===
+* Roads, street & highways cleaned: 178,000 miles
-* Litter & debris collected: 228,000,000 lb (103,600,000 kg)
-* Roads, street & highways cleaned: 165,000 miles (266,000 km)
 * RR tracksides cleaned: 1,900 miles (3,058 km)
-* Area of parks & public lands cleaned: 65,400 acres (265 km²)
+* Area of parks & public lands cleaned: 121,000 acres
 * Hiking, biking & nature trails cleaned: 3,900 miles (6,277 km)
-* Playgrounds & community recreation areas cleaned/restored/constructed: 3,900
+* Playgrounds & community recreation areas cleaned/restored/constructed: 3,300
-* Rivers, lakes & shoreline cleaned: 6,120 miles (9,849 km)
+* Rivers, lakes & shoreline cleaned: 7,000 miles
-* Underwater cleanups conducted: 185
+* Underwater cleanups conducted: 147
-* Wetlands restored: 1,100 acres (4.5 km²)
+* Wetlands restored: 2,100 acres
-* Illegal dumpsites cleaned: 10,200
+* Illegal dumpsites cleaned: 3,500
-* Junk cars removed: 18,100
+* Junk cars removed: 10,400
 ===Reduce, reuse, recycle===
-* Clothing collected for reuse: 5,600,000 lb (2,540,000 kg)
+* Clothing collected for reuse: 4,500,000 lb
-* Aluminum & steel recycled: 38,500,000 lb (17,460,000 kg)
+* Aluminum & steel recycled: 22,400,000 lb
-* Newspaper recycled: 28,000,000 lb (12,700,000 kg)
+* Newspaper recycled: 23,000,000 lb
-* Tires collected for recycling: 2,550,000
+* Tires collected for recycling: 2,200,000
-* Automotive batteries collected for recycling: 118,000
+* Automotive batteries collected for recycling: 115,000
-* Electronics recycled: 4,800,000 lb (2,180,000 kg)
+* Electronics recycled: 5,300,000 lb
-* PET (plastic) bottles collected for recycling: 37,600,000
+* PET (plastic) bottles collected for recycling: 70,600,000
 ===Beautification===
-* Trees planted: 134,500
+* Trees planted: 121,500
 * Flowers and bulbs planted: 5,430,000
 * Homes & commercial buildings painted/renovated: 2,300
@@ Line 62: / Line 53: @@
 ===Education===
-* Educational workshops held: 4,900
+* Educational workshops held: 6,500
-* Educational workshop attendees: 380,000
+* Educational workshop attendees: 485,000
 ==See also==