Keep Knoxville Beautiful (KKB) won two Awards of Excellence from the Tennessee Department of Transportation and Keep Tennessee Beautiful. On September 17, 2019, KKB took home the 1st place Keep America Beautiful- Tennessee Affiliate Award and the Public Participation Award for America Recycles Day of Tennessee during the biennial Awards of Excellence.
Every two years, the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) and Keep Tennessee Beautiful (KTnB) hold the Awards of Excellence, recognizing outstanding individuals, organizations, and programs across the state for their creativity and dedication to engaging fellow Tennesseans to take greater responsibility for their community environment.
KKB received the 1st place affiliate honor for excellence in implementing litter prevention, waste reduction, and beautification through volunteer efforts and educational programs in Knox County. During 2017 and 2018, KKB leveraged the support of 4,967 volunteers to complete 164 litter clean-ups covering more than 272 miles of roadways and waterways in Knox County. Volunteers removed 122,794 pounds of litter and completed 29 beautification projects. KKB’s volunteers invested $308,000 worth of volunteer hours back into Knox County communities. Additionally, KKB was able to educate and reach 4,265 Knox County youth through their free in-school and after-school education programs.
KKB won the Public Participation- America Recycles Day of Tennessee Award for their glass recycling event “Get Off Your Glass” in partnership with Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, WestRock, and Cherokee Distributing Company. In 2018, KKB began this pop-up glass recycling event with Sierra Nevada to promote glass recycling at local recycling drop-off centers when glass was removed from City of Knoxville curbside recycling in 2017. Through the four events held in 2018, 4,450 pound of glass was diverted from the landfill.
KKB would like to thank their volunteers, sponsors, community partners, Knox County Government, and the City of Knoxville Government for their continued support for promoting a cleaner, greener, more beautiful Knoxville! KKB Executive Director, Alanna McKissack, says “It is truly inspiring to be a part of community and organization that continuously works to improve our environment and uplift community pride. What we accomplish at KKB could not be done without the wonderful residents of Knox County”.