Higher Ed Affiliates

We Are Keep Louisiana Beautiful

Being a Keep Louisiana Beautiful Higher Ed Affiliate is a special mark of distinction and represents a commitment by the university to continual improvement in sustainability and environmental issues, promoting student environmental stewardship and engagement, and rigorous outcome measurement. It offers state recognition and sends a strong message to university stakeholders, as well as city, state, and national leaders. It signifies that you are part of a greater movement of over 600 National Affiliates and 67 Keep Louisiana Beautiful Affiliates that have a proven track record of behavioral change and preserving the beauty of Louisiana.

Become a Higher Ed Affiliate

What is a Higher Ed Affiliate?

An Affiliate educates, influences, engages and inspires the next generation of business owners and community leaders to become change agents for environmental issues such as waste reduction, litter prevention, and marine debris.

What benefits will we receive?

Higher Ed Affiliates receive a wide array of support from grant funding for student programs to networking opportunities with your peers from universities around the state.

What will we be required to do?

KLB has identified benchmarks for success to ensure you have the capacity to create a lasting impact on your campus and student communities.

keep louisiana beautiful affiliate

What is a University Affiliate?

The KLB University Affiliate program provides universities with resources to identify the root cause of litter in their communities, forums for sharing strategies to institutionalize zero waste programs in operations, and incentives for engaging their campus and community in removing litter from their environment. The program will provide students hands‐on experience with data collection, while also fostering their development into change agents who are informed and capable of implementing thoughtful, effective solutions to the environmental, social, and economic challenges we face at the local, national, and global scales.

keep louisiana beautiful affiliate

What benefits will we receive?

All Affiliates who fulfill the annual requirements are eligible for the following benefits.

Organizational Support

Alignment with the state’s leading community enhancement organization
Exclusive use of the Keep XXX Beautiful name and logo
KLB staff support

Networking, Education, and Training

Keep Louisiana Beautiful State Conference
Webinars and videos covering a variety of topics related to our mission work
Extensive networking opportunities with 43 Community Affiliates and other University Affiliates, enabling you to connect and share ideas, projects, and solutions
Membership in the University Sustainability Coalition

Tools and Resources

Access to all Keep Louisiana Beautiful programs, campaigns, handbooks, and resources
Love the Boot Week, a statewide community engagement initiative
Rocksey’s Toolbox – environmental education lessons and activities
America Recycles Day
Litter Tracking App
Waste Audit and Litter Survey manuals
Data collection and reporting
Newsletters, communications, promotions, and marketing materials

Grants

Keep Louisiana Beautiful university‐only grants
Keep Louisiana Beautiful Healthy Communities Grant
Limited Keep America Beautiful grants

Recognition

Presentation and publication opportunities for students, faculty, and staff
Keep Louisiana Beautiful Everyday Hero Awards
Limited Keep America Beautiful National Awards
Listed as an Affiliate on Keep Louisiana Beautiful website and print materials

keep louisiana beautiful affiliate

What will we be required to do?

Requirements

Training: Participate in at least 4 hours of training or education annually. (e.g. KLB State Conference, KAB National Conference, KLB/KAB webinars or video trainings, recycling/waste reduction/litter workshops, Louisiana Sustainability Coalition or other)
Leadership: Have an active university coordinator/chair and committee
Branding: Use the Affiliate name and logo
Annual Fee: $150 annual Affiliate fee due August 1st
Outcomes: Track and submit Affiliate outcomes, volunteer #, and hours
Report: Submit an annual report by August 1. The report documents that the above requirements have been fulfilled.
Conduct a Litter Survey of five pre‐determined campus locations including (fitness center/athletics, student union/cafeteria, main campus quad, parking lot, a section of the campus perimeter with high foot and vehicle traffic).
Participate in Love the Boot Week: Love the Boot Week is Louisiana’s statewide litter cleanup and beautification event held during Earth Week.
Programs: Conduct 3 Focus Areas Activities. Each University Affiliate must conduct at least 1 activity from each of the focus areas listed below for a total of 3 activities per year. Affiliates are encouraged to do more than 3 but not required. Efforts should align with and augment KLB’s mission, and fit the needs of the particular campus and community, focusing on environmental education, litter prevention, waste reduction, sustainability practices, recycling, beautification, and service learning. Efforts should support behavioral, procedural and policy changes on campus.

Litter Removal, Prevention and Recycling (at least one required)

Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup
Local or state adopt‐a‐road/beach program
America Recycles Day
Campus Race to Zero Waste (formerly RecycleMania)
GameDay Recycling Challenge
Project of your choice pre‐approved by KLB

Education and Engagement (at least one required)

Service‐learning project with students
Community‐learning project
Campus environmental, sustainability education or social media campaign
Mentor/partner with a local elementary, middle, junior or high school on an environmental education program
KLB’s Rocksey’s Toolbox education lessons for K‐5
Partner with a local KLB Affiliate
Mentor a new University Affiliate for one year
Project of your choice pre‐approved by KLB

Waste Reduction (at least one required)

Launch or expand waste reduction practice
Launch or expand SUD reduction program
Launch or expand green product purchasing program
Campus food waste reduction, diversion, or recovery program
Project of your choice pre‐approved by KLB

History of the Program

The University Affiliate program was developed in 2021 in response to a growing interest in sustainability, waste reduction, and litter prevention at the university level. University of Louisiana at Lafayette, with Keep Louisiana Beautiful as a sub-recipient, secured a $500,000 five-year EPA Gulf of Mexico Trash-Free Waters Grant to create and launch the program, develop a litter assessment app, develop educational training videos for campus communities, and fund grant opportunities for University Affiliates. The higher ed program grew in 2025, expanding to include Community and Technical Colleges.

University Affiliates include Dillard University, Grambling State University, Loyola University New Orleans, Louisiana State University, Louisiana Tech University, Nicholls State University, Northwestern State University, Southeastern Louisiana University, Tulane University, University of Louisiana Monroe, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, University of New Orleans, and Xavier University of Louisiana.

Community College Affiliates include Baton Rouge Community College, Delgado, Louisiana’s Community & Technical College, and SOWELA.