January 2008 E-Newsletter

Join Keep Cincinnati Beautiful as we kick-off another Great American Cleanup!


2008 Great American Cleanup Town Hall Meeting
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Council Chambers
City Hall
801 Plum Street
8:30 - 9:00 a.m. - Registration
9:00 - 11:00 a.m. - Town Hall Meeting

Information Session Includes:
- Fifth Third mini-grant applications and information
- Brief overview of Great American Cleanup procedures
- Ideas and resources for organizing and promoting your event
- Exciting new project ideas and opportunities

Donuts & Coffee provided!

Call Keep Cincinnati Beautiful at 352-4380 to RSVP by January 28, 2008.

Donate at any level and get a TAX DEDUCTION! Just visit our website . Once you have entered your information, you can designate your sponsorship level - simply write it in under "Additional Information". You can also send a check or money order to:

Keep Cincinnati Beautiful
c/o Friends
801 Plum Street, Room 16
Cincinnati, OH 45202

Your donation makes a difference! Giving to Keep Cincinnati Beautiful improves our community in many different ways. If you would like to donate to a specific program just let us know when you fill out the donation form. Simply list the program in the "Additional Comments" window .

Now is the time to do something nice for your hometown!

The Hamilton County Solid Waste Management District's annual Recycling Awards acknowledge outstanding recycling achievements by individuals, schools, communities and businesses in Hamilton County.

The 2007 Recycling Awards recipients include:

• Friend of Recycling Award - Ben Parker
• Outstanding School Recycling Program Award - Amity Elementary, Deer Park
• Outstanding Recycling Educator Award - Peggy Cappel, St. Aloysius Gonzaga School
• Best Recycler - (Less than 10,000 population for the year 2007)- Village of Indian Hill
• Best Recycler - (More than 10,000 population for the year 2007)- City of Forest Park
• Most Improved Recycling Program - Crosby Township
• Excellence in Public Recycling Award - Starfire Council of Greater Cincinnati
• Industrial Recycling Achievement Award - St. Bernard Soap Company
• Outstanding Recycling in a Multi-Family Residence Award- The Regency, Hyde Park
• Recycling at Work Program of the Year - Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
• The John Van Volkenburgh Award for Recycling Innovation- Perry & Derrick

Each month, we will begin featuring a volunteer or group that makes a difference through community improvement projects. In light of the upcoming Great American Cleanup, this month we will feature the Downtown Residents Council and their Great American Cleanup - Clearing the Path to the Taft project!

During last year's GAC, scores of volunteers spent several hours clearing and cleaning the "Path to the Taft" that stretches from just below the Taft Museum and Lytle Park South to the base of the Purple People Bridge. DRC Board Member Chris Wiedeman even broke out his chainsaw! The path is not only cleaner, but it is safer.

Crews of two and three branched out in a radius of three city blocks from their primary location to pick up trash cigarette butts, etc. All access routes to the bridge - sidewalks, paths, and staircases - were cleaned, cleared and swept.

Congratulations to the DRC once again for a successful cleanup project - we look forward to seeing what creative project they come up with for this year's Great American Cleanup!

Coordinators of the Go Green Challenge are pleased to announce that 21 local organizations have taken the pledge to go green by participating in the program. The mission of the Go Green Challenge is to encourage organizations, both large and small, to reduce their environmental impact.

Children's Hospital, Christ Hospital, and the University of Cincinnati have all initiated major environmental projects, such as facility-wide recycling or constructing LEED-certified green buildings. These organizations are leading by example and want to challenge all organizations to implement environmental practices.

Click here to view all the organizations that have joined the challenge so far.

To learn more about the Go Green Challenge, visit www.hamiltoncountyrecycles.org or call Catherine Walsh at (513) 946-7732.

Trash and Recycle disposal solutions for all your event, festival and office needs.

• OFF THE SHELF BOX
• 18"x18"x30" or 24"x 24"x36" white boxes with side handles.
• PREPRINTED BOXES & LIDS
• Printed for trash and recycle materials with graphics
• Spanish / English Versions of all Boxes and Lids
• Boxes clearly printed with glass, aluminum cans,
• CUSTOM PRINTED BOX
• Custom print your logo or name directly on white boxes in your choice of ink colors

CALL 850-877-4909 or visit www.keeptidy.com

Do you have a community improvement idea but need money to make it work? TALK TO US!

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. You can get up to $10,000 per neighborhood project! This grant is only available for City of Cincinnati communities.

The next deadline is February 8th, 2008 at 5:00 p.m.

For more information visit our Safe and Clean webpage, call us at 352-4388.

Do not tolerate graffiti vandalism. One of the best deterrents is rapid removal. Remove graffiti vandalism immediately.

Check our graffiti web page for more information about it.

Keep Cincinnati Beautiful recently received a grant from Keep America Beautiful to purchase and install four ash receptacles along a business district in Cincinnati in order to measure their effectiveness on butt litter. In conjunction with the Neighborhood Enhancement Program (NEP), KCB positioned the Buttlers in Northside along the Hamilton Avenue Business District.

Please contact us at 352-4385 for more information or visit our webpage.

Did you know that the energy saved by recycling one aluminum can would power a TV set for three hours (or six Simpsons' episodes)?

and did you know that same aluminum can thrown away will still be a can 500 years from now?

If you want to learn some more of these cool facts, click here to read our Recycling Fun Facts.

Remember that the more you know, the more you can do to improve our community... Plus now you will have more interesting stuff to talk about during your coffee breaks!

Extra: Did you know that you can recycle your recycling bin after its usable life?

To kick off the New Year, KCB presented our first "How Litter Hurts Animals" assembly in partnership with the Cincinnati Zoo, to the students of Winton Hills Academy.

Their program, Wings of Wonder, was tailored to educate students on a variety of birds from around the world, and to also discuss the negative impact of litter on birds' survival. Do you remember Lovelace, the penguin with the six-pack plastic ring wrapped around his neck in Happy Feet?

Our zoo friends also brought some other fun animals; what kid doesn't like to see a skunk, penguins and some rats? Over 200 students and faculty enjoyed seeing live animals, up close. By the end of the assembly, they gained an understanding of how litter hurts animals and what each person can do to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all animals.

If you are interested in finding out more about this new school program, please contact Barb Wriston-Ruddy, Education Program Manager.

We want you to send us stories or photos about community improvement!

Send us an email or call us at 352-4383. We will publish them on our e-newsletter and website.