Posted on Mar 07, 2024 | News,Press Releases
Keep Louisiana Beautiful, Coca-Cola, and Osprey Initiative to Recycle Plastic Bottles and Aluminum Cans in 13 Parishes During Love the Boot Week
BATON ROUGE, La. – During Keep Louisiana Beautiful’s Love the Boot Week, happening April 20-28, 2024, Coca-Cola will fund the recycling of plastic bottles and aluminum cans for litter cleanup events happening in 13 parishes. Love the Boot Week is Louisiana’s largest litter removal and beautification effort held during Earth Week, with events organized by businesses, non-profits, schools, governments, and families in all 64 parishes.
“Thank you to Coca-Cola for funding recycling during Love the Boot Week,” said Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser. “According to KLB’s 2023 litter study, 92% of people in Louisiana think litter is a problem. The proper disposal of our trash and recycling is key to ending litter in Louisiana. It’s important to recycle when possible and never litter.”
Osprey Initiative will facilitate recycling for Love the Boot litter cleanup events in the following parishes: Ascension, East Baton Rouge, Jefferson, Livingston, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. James, St. John, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa. In addition, West Monroe Recycling Center will be a drop-off site for plastic bottles and aluminum cans picked up at Love Boot Week cleanups happening in Ouachita Parish. To date, 90+ Love the Boot cleanups have signed up to implement recycling.
This is a significant expansion from the 2023 recycling effort, which was successful in collecting 3,506 aluminum cans and plastic bottles at 13 Love the Boot Week events. Last year,12,777 individuals volunteered 61,493 hours, removing 313 tons of litter in all 64 parishes. In addition to litter removal, volunteers focused on community beautification, planting 370 trees and 3,542 plants, and refurbishing 146 gardens.
When registering for Love the Boot Week at LoveTheBoot.org, events in eligible parishes can sign up for recycling. Recycling bags will be shipped from Osprey to those who sign up for recycling. Osprey will pick these bags up, sort the material, and deliver the recyclables to a recycling facility.
“Coca-Cola is committed to creating a sustainable future and collection is an important part of our sustainable packaging initiative, World Without Waste,” said Scott Ryan, Vice President of Franchise Operations for The Coca-Cola Company. “We’re proud to support Love the Boot Week and commend Keep Louisiana Beautiful’s effort on litter reduction in the state.”
“When items are properly recycled, they don’t end up littering our environment or entering our landfills,” said KLB Executive Director Susan Russell. “Not only does recycling reduce waste, but it also requires less energy to use recovered materials when making products in comparison to virgin materials. We are grateful to Coca-Cola for funding recycling at Love the Boot Week events, so the bottles and cans collected can be repurposed rather than landfilled.”
On May 29, Keep Louisiana Beautiful will present a recycling award to the group that collects the greatest weight of plastic bottles and aluminum cans.
Everyone in every parish is invited to register a cleanup or beautification event and/or sign-up to volunteer at LoveTheBoot.org.
Keep Louisiana Beautiful (KLB), a 501(c)(3) non-profit supported by the state of Louisiana and the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, is focused on promoting best practices for litter prevention and reduction, beautification, recycling, waste reduction, and sustainability. The backbone of KLB is the organization’s network of 37 Community Affiliates and 10 University Affiliates – all committed to working toward a cleaner, greener Louisiana. KLB supports communities across the state with its programs, educational opportunities, and community improvement grants. KLB is affiliated with Keep America Beautiful. Learn more at KeepLouisianaBeautiful.org.
