6,000 volunteers from 92 Greater Cincinnati communities collected 300,000 pounds of litter during the 2008 Great American Cleanup, sponsored by Great American Insurance Group.

The Great American Cleanup, coordinated locally by Keep Cincinnati Beautiful, is the largest community service project in America with nearly two and a half million volunteers throughout the country cleaning up their communities. Greater Cincinnati volunteers overcame the rain and cold temperatures that morning to make a change in their community.

Besides picking up litter, Tri-State volunteers beautified parks and recreation areas, cleaned riverbanks, conducted recycling collections, removed scrap tires, and planted thousands of flowers and trees. Some of the unusual items picked up during the event: 10 shopping carts (hauled out with a jeep), 3 gas tanks, 8 car benches, desks, file cabinets, and a sink.

Event Highlights included:
� 135 Give Back Cincinnati volunteers and the City Manager Milton Dohoney painted 12 building facades, parking meters and sign poles in Northside.
� HSBC planted 400 flowers and trees at Liberty Garden in honor of Staff Sgt. Matt Maupin
� Council Member Roxanne Qualls, UDF President Brad Lindner, YMCA, National City and Top Ladies of Distinction planted 50 trees at Kay's Garden on East Liberty Street
� 500 volunteers and their Klean Kat mascot cleaned up the whole City of Covington under the slogan "Don't Litter: Use The Box"

The Safe and Clean Neighborhood Fund is designed to support and encourage community-based and community-initiated efforts to improve neighborhood safety, eliminate blight and increase neighborhood livability through neighborhood-level problem solving approaches and projects.

The fund provides financial support for one-time costs (not on-going operating expenses) for neighborhood-led initiatives to improve the quality of life within the City's neighborhoods.

Projects must demonstrate measurable outcomes (changes in the conditions of safety, cleanliness and livability) as a result of having completed the funded program response.

Click here for more info or call Robin Henderson at 352-4388.

No, it is not that the 'Pig' changed its traditional colors, but the Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon went 'green' in 2008 with a number of conservation initiatives to make this year's event environmentally friendly and responsible.

Keep Cincinnati Beautiful staffed a booth at the 'Green Area' during the Health and Fitness Expo and afterwards provided recycling bins for the Finish Line and at the Victory Party. The Cincinnati Recreation Commission, KCB staff and volunteers were on hand to make sure that runners, family and friends kept their trash out of the recycling containers.

The Pig recycled approximately 28,000 plastic bottles as part of the "Return The Warmth" program, sponsored nationally by Sam's Club�, Aquafina�.

The top 50 collecting schools that participate in the "Return the Warmth" program will receive a Sam's Club� gift card worth $1,000. In addition, the top 100 collecting schools will receive a minimum of 250 fleece jackets made from recycled material. If Keep Cincinnati Beautiful is on of the winners, those fleece jackets will be distributed among inner city school elementary students.

For more information about "Return The Warmth" please call Barb Wriston-Ruddy 513-352-4387

On Friday, April 18th, communities throughout Greater Cincinnati received thousands of pansies donated by H.J. Benken's Florist & Greenhouse.

Benken's periodically donates flowers - including annuals and perennials - to community groups to plant in public spaces such as schools, community garden beds, and community gateways. Benken's contacts us, and then we reach out to deserving community groups when they find themselves in an overabundance of flowers!

Benken's has been a supporter of Keep Cincinnati Beautiful for over five years now. They donate flowers to community groups, help us tackle beautification projects, and host our annual Just Desserts Community Awards celebration. Owner Michael Benken serves on the Keep Cincinnati Beautiful Board of Trustees.

Click here to learn more about H.J. Benken's Florist & Greenhouse

Not only did the Cincinnati Reds hire Francisco Cordero to save its games this season (7 saves so far), they also took steps to green their operations and save the environment as well.

The Reds recently inked a three-year deal with Rumpke Recycling and Sea World Busch Gardens to add recycling containers for Great American Ball Park guests, but it will be up to baseball fans to make the program successful.

Beyond recycling cans (with logos of involved organizations on them such as Keep Cincinnati Beautiful) throughout the park, two scoreboard recycling messages are airing during each game. In addition, Reds fans will get to know Rumpke Recycling's mascot "Binny" a bit better as he will visit the park at least once a month to promote recycling and the Recycle Challenge, a school aluminum can recycling fundraiser.

Each month a student from a participating Recycle Challenge school will receive tickets to attend a game with his or her parents. While there, the Reds will feature the group on the big screen scoreboard with a reminder for the fans to throw their recyclables on the designated containers inside the stadium.

So far, the Reds have collected nearly 30,000 pounds of plastic bottles, aluminum cans, paper and cardboard for recycling.

Is there anything more frustrating than an overflowing trash can just when you need to use it? Well, now you can easily do something about it!

In an effort to address this issue, Cincinnati citizens can proactively identify overflowing corner trash cans on City streets, via e-mail or by calling the City Wide Communications Center at 591-6000.

Here is the information needed when submitting an overflowing corner can request:
1. What is the intersection or nearest street address of the can?
2. Is there a can inside of the receptacle container?

Please note that corner cans can also be reported on the City's website at www.cincinnati-oh.gov under the "I want to Request a City Service" section and choose "Corner Can Overflowing".

Emails regarding corner cans can also be sent to CUSTOMERSERVICE.PUBLICSERVICES@CINCINNATI-OH.GOV

All those old magazines, beer bottles and milk jugs that you collect every week are about to give your neighborhood a makeover.

Mayor Mark Mallory has made a priority of his administration to increase the number of people who recycle in Cincinnati - and he's willing to pay for it. So, the Mayor, Rumpke and Keep Cincinnati Beautiful have teamed up for an interesting challenge: About 40% of Queen City residents recycle, and the mayor wants to get the number up by 15% or more.

The mayor announced that all the neighborhoods that reach that goal (increase number of citizens recycling by 15% or more) will receive $250. And he says the neighborhood who recycles the most will win a prize of $1,000. The funds will be used towards a community improvement project. The contest will run from May 15 through November 15.

The Office of the Mayor have been contacting communities personally. If you haven't signed up your community yet (May 15th is the last day), you can do it at www.mayormallory.com

We can all help to make a greener world one child at a time!

Kindergarden students in Lebanon, Ohio spent a week learning about reducing, reusing, and recycling but in reality became life-long learners and teachers on a subject that improves our environment.

The children learned to differentiate between recyclables and trash. They also created many art projects from garbage which is a unique way to recycle. For example they made instruments from paper towel rolls and abstract pictures from trash. Students also cleaned around their school environment by picking up litter during the Great American Cleanup. These kids are agents of change and back home they make sure that no recyclable waste ever reaches the landfill! =)

Thanks to Amy Pelletier for sending her school's photos!

If you may have a community improvement story, send it our way and we will add it to our e-newsletter as well!

Never underestimate the ability of one person to make a difference in his/her children's school community.

Beth Muething, Nativity School parent volunteer and mother of 4, has done an amazing job at transforming this elementary school in Pleasant Ridge into a top notch recycler!

Environmental education is an important goal of Mrs. Muethings. To do this, she enlisted the help of Keep Cincinnati Beautiful to provide free, environmental education to students of all grade levels. The kindergarteners were dancing with the "Jitter, Don't Litter" class while the upper grades were involved in the specifics of recycling with the KCB "Recycle This" program.

This volunteer did not confine her efforts to the school children. Mrs. Muething instituted a public awareness campaign by selling "REBAGS", at cost, to Nativity parents in order to reduce the number of plastic bags and minimize garbage. She sold all 400 bags ordered and has placed another order for the spring! Also, Beth wants to emphasize that there have been many other Nativity parents who have joined her in her recycling/waste reduction challenge. The more the merrier!

Beth, you are an inspiration to us all!

Click here to read the whole story.

Have you ever been asked about Energy Audits, R-Value or CFC technology and you had no idea? Here are some of the most used 'green' terms in the streets nowadays:

Alternative energy: Energy produced from renewable sources, such as sunlight or wind. It has the added benefit of not generating heat-trapping "greenhouse" gases.

Biodegradable: Capable of decomposing under natural conditions.

Biofuels: Fuels from recently living plants and animals, or metabolic byproducts such as manure from cows.

CFCs: Chlorofluorocarbons. Used in refrigerants, cleaners and aerosols and in the making of plastic foams, CFCs are greenhouse gases. They also cause ozone depletion in the stratosphere.

Compact fluorescent bulb: A smaller version of a fluorescent lamp that fits into a standard light bulb socket. Fluorescent bulbs create light in a more energy-efficient way. According to General Electric, a 15-watt compact fluorescent bulb produces the same amount of light as a 60-watt regular incandescent bulb.

Energy audit: The process of determining the energy consumption of a building or facility.

Environmental footprint: The impact of an organization in categories such as resource use and waste generation. A "carbon footprint" details how much carbon dioxide an organization adds to the atmosphere.

Ethanol: An automotive fuel derived from grass, sugar cane or corn. Burning ethanol adds carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, but it is seen as a renewable fuel, like solar power, that does not deplete natural resources.

Greenhouse effect: The warming of the Earth's atmosphere attributed to a buildup of carbon dioxide and other gases that retain heat and warm the planet's surface.

Hybrid cars: Autos with a small, fuel-efficient gas engine, combined with a battery-powered electric motor that assists the engine when accelerating, and an energy-recovery system from braking that fuels the battery.

R-value: A measurement of the insulating performance of a material.

Source: USA TODAY research