The Great PA Cleanup

The Great PA Cleanup is a statewide initiative that brings neighbors, non-profits, businesses, community leaders, and public officials together around a common goal—to clean up trash and litter throughout Pennsylvania. The initiative targets roadways, riverbanks, neighborhoods, forests, parks, and open spaces.  

The 2006 Great PA Cleanup was extremely successful and engaged a remarkable 132,245 volunteers in its cleanup initiative. Thanks to the commitment of the volunteers an amazing 6.7 million pounds of litter and trash were removed from Pennsylvania's beautiful landscape.

The following are the statistics from the 2006 Great PA Cleanup:

• 1,068 communities were involved in the cleanups and all 67 Pennsylvania counties
• 5,689 cleanup events.
• 132,245 volunteers.
• 312,396 bags of trash were collected, weighing in at 6,247,917 pounds.
• 460,000 pounds of illegally dumped trash and 11,000 tires were collected by volunteers in DEP's COALS (Clean Up Our Anthracite Lands and Streams) program.
• 13,811 miles of road, railway track, trails, waterways, and Shorelines were cleaned.  
• 2,470 acres of park and/or wetlands were also cleaned.
• Additionally, volunteers planted 22,270 trees, bulbs, and plants.

Keep PA Beautiful would like to call special attention to the Department of Transportation and its Adopt-A-Highway program, The Pennsylvania Waste Industries Association, the Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association, and the Pennsylvania Soft Drink Association.   All of these organizations played an essential role in the organization and management the 2006 cleanup.  

Additionally, The Great PA Cleanup would not be possible if it were not for the support of the following sponsoring organizations. Listed below, in Alphabetical order, are all of the organizations who sponsored the 2006 Great PA Cleanup.  

• AAA Mid-Atlantic
• Audubon Pennsylvania
• Best Buy
• Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: Departments of Conservation and Natural Resources, Environmental Protection, and Transportation.
• County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania
• Cities: Allentown, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh.
• GreenTreks Network
• Home Depot
• Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries
• Keep Lancaster Beautiful
• Keep Philadelphia Beautiful
• Keystone Sanitary Landfill
• PA Cleanways
• Pennsylvania Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus
• Pennsylvania Builders Association
• Pennsylvania Downtown Center
• Pennsylvania Farm Bureau
• Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association
• Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
• Pennsylvania Host Municipal Inspectors
• Pennsylvania Organization for Watersheds and Rivers
• Pennsylvania Parks and Forests Foundation
• Pennsylvania Resources Council
• Pennsylvania Soft Drink Association
• Pennsylvania State Association of Borough Managers
• Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors
• Pennsylvania Waste Industries Association
• Pocono Mountains Vacation Bureau
• Professional Recyclers of Pennsylvania
• Schuylkill Keep It Pretty
• Sierra Club of Pennsylvania
• The Steel Recycling Institute
• United States Steel
• Waste Management

	Over 230 volunteers converged on the South Side of Pittsburgh on Saturday, April 22, to remove litter and debris from the South Side of Pittsburgh. These Volunteers made their way down Carson Street from 1st Street to 10th Street.
	DEP Secretary Kathleen McGinty and other supporters put the finishing touches on the planting of a river birch at FDR Park in South Philadelphia. From left are: Tom Dougherty of the Fairmount Park Commission, Chad Forcey of the Pennsylvania Landscape and Nursery Association, Jim MacKenzie of Octoraro Native Plant Nursery, and Mark Focht, Executive Director of the Fairmount Park Commission.
	Paul Zeph of Audubon PA and Stacy Small Audubon PA Director of Bird Conservation.