Saturday, February 25, 2006

More groups have joined the 2006 Great American Cleanup™.  They are:

Fairmont-Emoriland Neighborhood
The Castaways
Nature's Way Montessori School
Halls High School
Old Sevier Community Group
Mindy Cliburn/Ogg Road

- posted by KKB Staff at 1:55 PM

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Tom, Jack and our AmeriCorps member Seth Hopper set up the KKB booth at the Dogwood House and Garden Show.  We will have information about the Great American Cleanup™, the Youth Advisory Board, I Spy on Litter and plenty of Don't Thrown Down on K-TOWN stickers.  We will be there through Sunday.  One of our first visitors was Cat Wilt from UT.

- posted by KKB Staff at 10:15 PM

Tuesday, February 22, 2006

A right of passage.  Today, Jack Dennis, KKB program coordinator joined the ranks of some of KKB's top performing program coordinators (Terrin Kanoa, Mike Schoenberger, Abby Blackburn, Natalie Pratt, Annie Morton and Emily Ditty) when he donned the Talking Tree suit for a presentation to the pre-school classes at the Jewish Community Center.  It was a lot of fun and he did a great job. 



The most recent additions to the 2006 Great American Cleanup™ include:

St. Joseph Catholic School
North Knoxville Rotary Club
Rudder Lane Homeowners
Tennessee Men's Soccer
Friends of the Fort/S.P.E.A.K.
Brookfield Acres Neighborhood Association
Carter School Beta Club

The board of directors are continuing to vote by email on language for a public position on the proposed Tennessee Bottle Bill.

The Youth Advisory Board had their third meeting at the Fulton High School Library.  They reported on their progress in recruiting help for the Great American Cleanup™ and they recorded some test video for their "podcasting" project.  More on that later.

- posted by KKB Staff at 8:30 PM

Sunday, February 19, 2006

The News Sentinel ran the op-ed pieces from Food City President Steve Smith and Tennessee Bottle Bill Coordinator Marge Davis.  Mr. Smith hit on issues involving litter, redemption fraud, reasons why grocers don't want to operate redemption centers, cross-border sales and the present value of the current comprehensive Litter Grant Program (disclosure note: every county in Tennessee receives a Litter Grant and Knox County passes along some of their grant to Keep Knoxville Beautiful). Ms. Davis took the position that the bottle bill will force the beverage industry to engage in waste reduction and that revenue from the bill will double the funds for the Litter Grant Program.  She talked about litter control a little, but did not dwell on it at all.  Bottle bill critics are likely to take issue with the argument that the legislation is targeted at the beverage industry.  The bill is without question a consumer recycling incentive program funded by consumers.  Ms. Davis emphasizes the big impact of recycling bottles and cans but neglects to mention that according to the Environmental Protection Agency, beverage containers only make up about 5% of the waste produced in our nation and the bottle bill doesn't do anything to promote the recycling of the types of material that make up the other 95% of our waste.

- posted by KKB Staff at 10:30 AM

Saturday, February 18, 2006

What is that???  It sort of looks like snow.  I heard Phil Williams say yesterday he'd believe it when he sees it - after the forecasts we've had for the last to weekends.  Looks nice!

- posted by KKB Staff at 5:15 PM

Friday, February 17, 2006

As of today the following groups have committed to participating in the 2006 Great American Cleanup™ in Knoxville:

The Edgewood Community
Powell High School SGA
Ijams Nature Center with the Greater Island Home Community Partnership
Lonas Drive Community Association
Fourth and Gill Neighborhood Association
Northwest Middle School Linkup Leadership POSSE
Phi Sigma Kappa
Colonial Village Neighborhood Association
Corryton Elementary School
Knoxville Green Party
Western Heights Resident's Association

The board of directors began voting by email today on a formal public statement on the proposed Tennessee Bottle Bill.  We should have results by Monday.

- posted by KKB Staff at 5:15 PM

Thursday, February 16, 2006

KKB board president-elect Harold Byrd and executive director Tom Salter walked the whole grounds of Mabry Hazen House today to make plans for the March 7th Great American Cleanup™ kickoff press conference and celebrity cleanup.  The event has evolved into a half workday.  We are now seeking volunteers to help out between 2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. with leaf removal (raking, blowing, vacuuming), picking up sticks and branches, taking down two small dead trees and one small tree stump, spreading mulch and picking up litter.  There really isn't that much litter which is encouraging.  However there are enough sticks and fallen limbs to keep several people busy for quite a while. If you or your group would like to help out, call the office or drop us an email.  We will have a lot of tools and equipment, work gloves and drinks.  Here are some "before" shots of the grounds:

- posted by KKB Staff at 1:30 PM

Thursday, February 9, 2006

Tom presented a PowerPoint slide show and speech to the Colonial Village Neighborhood Association tonight at the South Knoxville Church of God on 5623 Magazine Road.  The topic was the Great American Cleanup™ and the Tennessee Bottle Bill.  There were about 20 people there including Sharon Webb from the old Nine Counties, One Vision Beautification Committee and City Councilman Joe Hultquist.  There were a lot of good questions and comments.  Nobody threw tomatoes at Tom.  He was very relieved.  Click here to view the presentation.

- posted by KKB Staff at 9:20 PM

Tuesday, February 7, 2006

Tom was interviewed by Frank Murphy for Star 102.1's Sunday morning program East Tennessee Report.  The topic were the Great American Cleanup™ and the Tennessee Bottle Bill.  The interview is set to be broadcast Sunday morning at 6:00 a.m. on 93 Point 1 and at 6:30 a.m. on Star 102.1 and Hot 104.5.

- posted by KKB Staff at 12:45 PM

Friday, February 3, 2006

Bob Santore had a little appreciation event for the West Knox Sertoma Club which has donated $5,000 toward landscaping at Dogwood Elementary School.  Some of the kids sang a really cute flower song.  Keep Knoxville Beautiful will manage the grant for the South Knox Beautification Committee at no charge.

- posted by KKB Staff at 1:15 PM

Thursday, February 2, 2006

Today we had our first board meeting of 2006 and the first after the board retreat.  We also started the new year by moving our regular meeting place from the Candy Factory at World's Fair Park to the Mabry Hazen House at 1711 Dandridge Avenue in East Knoxville.  Here is a nice picture of the Mabry Hazen mansion from their website.  Our meetings are actually in a smaller house a little west of the mansion.



The KKB board is considering whether or not to take an official position on the proposed Tennessee Bottle Bill.  If you follow this blog you know that our director, Tom Salter, has been commenting on the impact of the bill on litter control and recycling and has been quoted in the news and asked to make formal presentations to groups on this topic.  Tom has also come under fire from bill supporters for speaking publicly about the impact of the bill on litter and recycling.  The KKB executive committee felt the board should discuss the issues and decide whether or not to make a definitive public statement on the proposed bill.  During the meeting the following issues were discussed:

• Litter research from local, state and national sources,
• Recycling data from EPA, the National Recycling Coalition and other sources,
• The financial picture of the bill including the costs to consumers,
• Why some prominent grocers strongly oppose the bill,
• The concept of cross border sales and redemption fraud,
• The special interest groups that support bottle bills,
• Special benefits of the legislation promised by bill supporters such as increased Litter Grant funding,
• Reverse vending machines and damaged or soiled containers,
• Recent bottle bill news from Iowa and Hawaii,
• Data comparing roadside litter in bottle bill states with comprehensive approach states,
• The differences in markets for recycled material in urban areas versus more remote, rural areas.
• Concerns by proponents of small government and low taxes that the program makes government bigger and is just a tax,
• and the concerns related to KKB's public education efforts that there is a no "magic bullet" that will fix the litter problem.

There was a good discussion and there was a consensus that the board will issue a public statement on the proposed bill.  The board asked Tom to draft some sample language on a position statement and circulate it among board members for comment prior to voting on a statement by email.