Keep Austin Beautiful Day 2023
Did you know that April is Earth Month? That means that instead of just showing love to our planet on Earth Day (April 22), we can be taking advantage of opportunities all month to improve the health of our planet and build sustainable habits. One of the best and biggest ways for Austinites to get involved is to volunteer for Keep Austin Beautiful Day on April 15, 2023.
What is Keep Austin Beautiful Day?
Keep Austin Beautiful Day is an annual volunteer community service event organized by Keep Austin Beautiful, a nonprofit organization that began in 1983. The organization has volunteer programs throughout the year such as Clean Lady Bird Lake and Adopt-a-Creek, but their Keep Austin Beautiful Day cleanup only happens once a year. According to their 2022 impact report, last year’s cleanup had 54 project sites, engaged 1054 volunteers, and removed 15,674 lbs. of trash and 1,080 lbs. of recycling. 
This year, Keep Austin Beautiful Day is on Saturday, April 15 and there are over 2000 volunteer opportunities with 100 sites across the Austin area and in all 10 council districts. The event runs from 9-11 am and volunteers can sign up on the Keep Austin Beautiful website. Even if you can’t attend this event there are other ways to give back to this organization that keeps our city clean and healthy. Anyone can donate even a small amount, or you can check out their other volunteering opportunities at another time.
Urban Cleanups Are Important For Ocean Plastic Pollution
Participating in beach cleanups is great and there are many organizations in Texas that organize gulf cleanups throughout the year. However a majority of marine debris comes from the trash and debris in urban runoff meaning we can start tackling plastic pollution at its source in major cities. Cities are critical actors in the issue of ocean plastic pollution as they have the power to improve waste collection and recycling systems and increase citizen education and awareness. Cleanups such as Keep Austin Beautiful Day are ways that urban communities can decrease the amount of debris and trash that enter our local waterways so that they never reach our oceans.
