Recycling to keep America beautiful for 2025

AccuWeather

Jennifer Lawson of the non-profit organization Keep America Beautiful speaks with AccuWeather about some recycling resolutions to kick off the new year in the effort to keep communities clean.

Transcript

00:00Beyond personal goals, many of us are looking for ways to help the planet too.

00:05Here with some recycling resolutions is Jennifer Lawson, president and CEO of the non-profit

00:11Keep America Beautiful. Thanks so much for joining us. And Jennifer, Keep America Beautiful

00:15was started more than 70 years ago to help end littering and improve recycling. So what

00:21is the mission of the organization today? Well, in fact, we're still at it. The mission

00:28of the organization is a belief that everyone deserves to live in a clean, green and beautiful

00:34community. So we work in more than 750 communities around the country doing litter cleanups and

00:41recycling events and tree and green planting activities. And there's some great images

00:47of how people can have fun and get involved in their local communities.

00:52Now, what you can and can't recycle can be a little confusing. Are there some tips to help people recycle better?

01:00Yeah, you know, I think people get overwhelmed because there's a lot of information and it actually varies

01:08community by community. So there are a couple of easy tricks to think about. I was sort of thinking

01:14about the Jackson 5 the other day, ABC 1, 2, 3. ABC 1, 2, 5 is the is the outlier. But ABC 1, 2,

01:243. You can recycle those aluminum, right? Aluminum is a valuable resource right now. So any aluminum

01:32that can be recycled is likely to be back in service making cans almost within a month.

01:39And then cardboard and other paper too, right? So your pizza boxes, especially this time of year

01:46with the bowl games, those can be recycled. Even if they're a little greasy, scrape off any cheese

01:52that's stuck and recycle those paper boxes. And your wrapping paper that you're sorting through

01:59after the holidays now, if you can scrunch it and it stays together and it doesn't have glitter

02:05and metallic on it, that can be recycled. So those are a couple of really easy things you can do.

02:11I think the other thing that's really a great opportunity is if people think about recycling

02:17on the go. So take that bag and in your car, put it in your purse, what have you. And if there's

02:24not a place for your plastic bottle or a recycling bin, one, ask for them at the convenience store.

02:30And two, just take that bottle home with you and manage your recycling at home.

02:35That's a good tip I haven't heard before. In your community, are there ways to be more

02:39sustainable and then help your local environment? Yeah. So at Keep America Beautiful, we are running

02:45a national campaign right now, inviting every American to pick up 250 pieces of litter each

02:52year for the next two years ahead of the greatest American cleanup in our country's 250th birthday.

02:59We think that's a really attainable goal. And you know, if every American picked up 250 pieces of

03:05litter, we would pick it all up. So we invite people to think about that. We invite people to

03:12plant something this year with friends, with family, on your deck, in your garden. Evergreen

03:18trees are sticky and they're great capturers of carbon and can really help our climate and our

03:24air with, you know, from pollen deposits and people who have allergies, plant a tree.

03:32And you know, I think the other thing too is to, you know, really use those reusable bags. I know

03:39this is starting to sound like the same old things, but it matters. I will tell you, it takes

03:44me about 10 or 12, six that I leave in the house and six that I forget. And so they're in the

03:50car and then they rotate back and forth, use the bags. They really make a difference.

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