Keep Columbus Beautiful is a City of Columbus community improvement program and an affiliate of Keep America Beautiful. It promotes litter prevention, environmental education, and community engagement through school programs, workshops, and volunteer opportunities. It provides free supplies, encourages data collection, and partners with educators to foster environmental stewardship.
It aims to improve Columbus’s health & safety by inspiring community action and sustainable practices. Keep Columbus Beautiful is committed to educating the public on the impact that litter and pollution have on our health and the health of our planet.
Monthly Cleanups & Community Programs
Keep Columbus Beautiful empowers members of the community to take care of the environment through litter cleanups, recycling events and beautification projects. These events give volunteers a hands-on opportunity to see the impact that litter and pollution have on our environment.
It hosts monthly cleanups and special events throughout the year. Because the schedule changes often, the best way to stay up to date is to reach out directly by emailing keepcolumbusbeautiful@columbus.gov to learn about getting involved in upcoming events.
courtesy of Keep Columbus Beautiful
Keep Columbus Beautiful’s Custom Day of Service allows companies & organizations to invest in a service opportunity of their choice. Keep Columbus Beautiful provides the project, handles all logistics, and supplies all necessary materials.
Youth Education
Keep Columbus Beautiful offers free youth education programming to classrooms, youth clubs, day camps, afterschool programs, and community groups. Educational services are available to students in elementary, middle, and high school. Programming is designed with learning standards in mind and is tailored to a group’s specific needs, featuring a range of activities including workshops, presentations, & lessons.
Keep Columbus Beautiful collaborates with educators to provide school & classroom presentations that are interactive, age appropriate, and align with Ohio’s learning standards for primary scientific themes and secondary environmental science.
It empowers learners through community engagement on litter prevention, sustainable practices and environmental stewardship. Education makes a difference for a cleaner, safer, and healthier Columbus.
Adopt an Area
Through the Adopt an Area Program, volunteers can turn the tide against litter. Businesses, churches, associations, clubs, families, and even individuals can be partners. Everyone can get involved!
Adopting groups take care of roads and surrounding public spaces throughout Columbus, picking up trash along their adopted street segment. Participating in Adopt-an-Area is a great way to show civic pride, engage with colleagues and friends, and build community ties.
It’s a two-year commitment, during which a group chooses an area in its neighborhood, receives equipment, supplies, & assistance from Keep Columbus Beautiful, organizes three or more cleanups a year, tracks & reports on its projects, and builds meaningful connections with the community.
Participating groups get recognized on the Keep Columbus Beautiful website and are key players in reducing litter, beautifying neighborhoods, and creating a healthy & safe environment.
Keep America Beautiful
Keep America Beautiful is a national nonprofit organization working with local affiliates, volunteers, public agencies, & corporate partners to reduce litter, increase recycling, and improve communities across the nation.
Its story began in 1953, when organizations representing civic groups, conservation organizations, corporations, & government agencies came together to find solutions to the growing national concern of litter along the nation’s highways & public spaces. That initial meeting would evolve into Keep America Beautiful, an organization founded on the idea that improving communities requires community collaboration and action.
Today, it’s network includes more than 730 community-based affiliates working in towns & cities across the country. These local leaders, volunteers, and partners carry out programs that range from litter cleanups and recycling education to tree planting, neighborhood revitalization, and beautification of public spaces.
