As 2020 winds down to a close – marking Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful’s 40^th anniversary, the environmentally focused nonprofit is proud to announce that it has been honored with its 7th Governor’s Circle Award. Presented by the Keep Georgia Beautiful Foundation, the award recognizes exemplary performance in litter reduction, waste minimization, and community greening. In addition to being an active member of KGBF’s network, to qualify for the Governor’s Circle Award, affiliates must be in good standing with Keep America Beautiful – the national nonprofit that oversees state and local programming. Requirements include conducting an annual litter index, calculating the affiliate’s cost/benefit ratio, and engaging volunteers in taking greater responsibility for their community spaces.

Over the course of 2020, some of the highlights of Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful’s (GC&B) role within the community included:

• Devoting 312 combined hours from 104 volunteers to chip 1,500 trees into mulch during Bring One for the Chipper 2020

• Removing 9,650 pounds of trash from Bromolow Creek & Wetlands during Great Gwinnett Wetlands 2020 by teaming up with Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources and 55 volunteers over the course of just three hours

• Gathering 4,763 gallons of latex paint, 28.13 tons of electronics and 28.14 tons of paper for shredding from 1,692 vehicles over the span of five hours with Gwinnett County Solid Waste Management during America Recycles Day 2020

• Collecting and delivering 1,979 nonperishable food items totaling 1,251 pounds to Street Wise – a nonprofit devoted to serving to serving families living in low-income areas – during Great Days of Service 2020

• Hosting two household hazardous waste collection events free to residents in partnership with the Department of Water Resources, diverting another 136 tons of waste

• Completing 488 cleanups over 226 miles of adopted roadway through the GC&B Adopt-A-Road program. 3,087 volunteers gave 22,441 volunteer hours for the removal of 9,026 bags/198,525.5 pounds of litter and 2,658 illegal signs from local roadways

• Maintaining 31 waterways with 300 volunteer hours through the Adopt-A-Stream program

• Revamping three community events amid the COVID-19 pandemic to adhere to CDC guidelines and protect attendees, volunteers, staff members and partners

• Receiving a $45,000 grant from the World Wildlife Fund to improve the Green & Healthy Schools program involving STEM- and problem-based learning efforts at Gwinnett County Public Schools. The previous year, a $20,000 KAB/Lowe's Grant allowed GC&B to champion the Food Waste Warriors Project to battle food waste in schools through the G&HS program 

• Receiving $21,000 in grant funding to support the development of a Multilingual Residential Recycling Education Bag and multilingual translation component for a new GC&B website

• Receiving $20,000 from Primerica and the Primerica Foundation to further GC&B’s education outreach and programs, including but not limited to hosting annual events free of charge to residents and working with GCPS to fight food insecurity

• Hosting the 13th annual Governor Environmental Address in 2019, which marked Governor Brian Kemp's first appearance before the GC&B podium, included the attendance of 1,000 community and business leaders and raised $100,000 to support our endeavors to connect people and resources for a more sustainable Gwinnett

• Awarding $6,000 in scholarships to GCPS and GGC students

• Awarding $6,625 to 77 schools for their accomplishments in the Green & Healthy Schools program

• Being named Best of Gwinnett by Gwinnett Magazine in the Non-Profit Category in 2019

• Celebrating 40 Years as a Georgia nonprofit dedicated to advocating for cleaner, greener community spaces in Gwinnett County to make it a healthier, more vibrant place to live

“This year proved more challenging than most for many nonprofits and companies,” said Schelly Marlatt, Executive Director of Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful. “The same held true for Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful as we had to make some tough calls regarding event cancellations – including the celebration of our 40^th anniversary. However, I am so proud of my team and board members in our ability to pivot to still meet the needs of our community and environment. We were still able to educate and motivate our neighbors to act and we managed to pull off several highly impactful events despite the pandemic. While we may not have achieved the big ‘wins’ as we have in the past due to the cancelled events, we were able to maintain our impact and take advantage of this time to plan for the future. We are honored to be part of an incredible network of KGBF and Keep America Beautiful affiliates. We inspire one another daily as we strive to inspire members of our corresponding communities to act on behalf of the environment.”

Members of the Gwinnett County community – whether residents, students or local businesses – are invited to visit www.GwinnettCB.org to learn how they can play a more active environmental stewardship role close to home.