Keep Irving Beautiful Hosts “Don’t Mess with Texas Trash-Off”

Irving, TX, April 09, 2022 --(PR.com)-- The “Don’t Mess with Texas Trash-Off” is the state’s signature event of the “Great American Cleanup,” taking place in communities all across Texas. Keep Irving Beautiful (KIB) hosted its event on April 2 at Trinity View Park, where volunteers came together with the common goal of stopping litter from reaching the nearby Elm Fork of the Trinity River. After signing in, receiving supplies, and hearing a safety speech, groups of volunteers spread out across the park, along creek beds, tree lines and wooded areas, collecting litter that had been washed into this low-lying area.

Following the cleanup, volunteers were treated to a lunch of beef or veggie hot dogs prepared by volunteers from Blueprint Church, including a variety of chips donated by longtime sponsor Frito-Lay. City departments that were instrumental in the success of this event included Parks and Recreation, who reserved the park and provided logistic guidance, Solid Waste Services, who provided roll-off containers and weighed the materials collected, and Communications, who provided a crew from Irving Community Television Network to cover the event.

Also, volunteers from Crisis Ministries of Irving accepted canned food donations from those in attendance, collecting a total of 280 pounds for their food pantry in downtown Irving. Those who donated food items received a KIB T-shirt.

KIB also offered a virtual “#IrvingTrashOff2022” where volunteers chose their own locations around the city and reported via social media. They were asked to post pictures of their cleanups, and include the number of volunteers, hours and bags of trash recyclables collected along with the hashtag #IrvingTrashOff2022. The combined efforts of the in-person and remote events were 152 volunteers (105 adults and 47 youth), 440.5 hours, 1,650 pounds of trash and 860 pounds of recyclables collected.

“The Trash-Off is a great community event that is also part of a much bigger picture,” said KIB’s President Scott Wilson. “Our volunteers were joined by thousands of others in Texas who participated in their own Trash-Off events. This is also part of Keep America Beautiful’s Great American Cleanup program, which will engage millions of volunteers throughout the country from through May. We were happy to offer the virtual cleanup again this year to give our volunteers another option to participate.”

Keep Irving Beautiful is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating our community about litter abatement, recycling, and beautification to help preserve the health and promote the social and economic prosperity of our city. As an award-winning affiliate of Keep America Beautiful and Keep Texas Beautiful, Keep Irving Beautiful reaches out to all sectors of our city including government, business, church, cultural, educational, neighborhood and civic organizations. If you are interested in volunteering with KIB, or making your activity a “green event,” please call (972) 721-2175.