Keep Louisiana Beautiful (KLB) and Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser are proud to recognize seven outstanding organizations and communities that demonstrated exceptional leadership during the 2026 Love the Boot Week, Louisiana’s largest litter cleanup and beautification effort.
Held April 18–26, Love the Boot Week united volunteers in all 64 parishes to remove litter, beautify public spaces, and strengthen community pride. Award recipients were selected based on their impact in litter removal, beautification efforts, volunteer engagement, and environmental stewardship.
2026 Love the Boot Award Winners:
Outstanding State Agency: Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD)
The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) once again demonstrated exceptional leadership during Love the Boot Week through coordinated cleanup efforts statewide. DOTD hosted 36 cleanup events, involving 768 volunteers, and removed 73,727 lbs of litter from Louisiana roadways, underscoring the agency’s critical role in maintaining clean and safe transportation corridors.
Participating districts: Headquarters, 02, 03, 04, 05, 07, 08, 58, 61, 62
Outstanding Non-profit/Business: Keep Tiger Town Beautiful
Keep Tiger Town Beautiful, a group of self-described litter warriors dedicated to fighting litter in Baton Rouge, brought together nearly 200 volunteers during Love the Boot Week. Across six cleanup projects, the group removed an impressive 16,550 lbs of litter. In addition, they tackled litter through prevention and education by speaking with local elementary school students about the importance of putting trash in its proper place.
Outstanding Parish: Livingston Parish & Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office
Livingston Parish and the Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office demonstrated extraordinary impact during Love the Boot Week through large-scale litter removal and recycling efforts across the parish. Together, they hosted a major drive-through collection event that resulted in the proper disposal of more than 173,000 lbs of waste, most of which was recycled. In addition, the Sheriff’s Office litter crews worked each day during Love the Boot Week along interstate corridors, removing an additional 78,000 lbs of litter, including 400 tires.
Outstanding City: Lake Charles / Keep Greater Lake Charles Beautiful
Keep Greater Lake Charles Beautiful organized an impressive community-wide effort during Love the Boot Week, engaging approximately 700 volunteers across 56 cleanups and beautification projects. Together, volunteers removed 17,600 lbs of litter, while also supporting recycling initiatives, tree plantings, and beautification projects that enhanced public spaces throughout the community.
Outstanding University: Louisiana Tech University Student Government Association
The Louisiana Tech University Student Government Association held the largest university service effort during Love the Boot Week, mobilizing approximately 2,000 volunteers to remove 1,200 lbs of litter across nearly 100 miles of roadways. Partnering with the Lincoln Parish Police Jury, the cleanup effort also served as a kickoff service project for Greek Week, encouraging large-scale student involvement and community engagement.
Outstanding K-12 School and Outstanding Recycling Group: G.W. Carver High School (Orleans Parish)
G.W. Carver High School demonstrated outstanding environmental leadership during Love the Boot Week by mobilizing 200 volunteers to participate in litter removal from their school’s neighborhood in the New Orleans Ninth Ward. Students and volunteers collected 1,825 lbs of litter and sorted recyclable items from the litter they picked up so that it could be diverted from the landfill. Their efforts helped promote environmental stewardship and community pride throughout their school and neighborhood. Go Rams!
A Record-Breaking Year for Love the Boot Week
“These groups promote environmental stewardship in their communities and exemplify what it means to Love the Boot,” said Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser. “Let’s keep the momentum going every day of the year to clean up Louisiana and put the paradise back in our Sportsman’s Paradise.”
The 2026 Love the Boot Week set new records for volunteer engagement and environmental impact. Across Louisiana, 28,079 volunteers contributed 77,648 hours of service at more than 1,624 events, removing a record-breaking 566 tons of litter from communities statewide.
Volunteers also recycled 9,870 plastic bottles and aluminum cans, planted 1,546 trees and 4,231 plants, and refurbished 396 gardens to help beautify public spaces.
Participation came from every sector of the community, including:
- 136 colleges and universities
- 234 K-12 schools
- 75 individuals and family groups
- 96 businesses
- 462 nonprofit organizations
- 20 places of worship
- 399 governmental entities
Keep the Momentum Going
While Love the Boot Week may be over, Keep Louisiana Beautiful encourages residents to continue making a difference throughout the year through its free programs and resources designed to support litter prevention, community cleanup, recycling, and beautification efforts.
Looking ahead, Love the Boot Week will return April 17–25, 2027, with registration opening in January at LoveTheBoot.org.
Before then, Louisianans are encouraged to participate in Love Our Waterways, a new statewide waterway cleanup initiative taking place this September. Volunteers can help remove litter from Louisiana’s rivers, lakes, bayous, shorelines, and waterways—whether by boat or from the shoreline—to protect the natural resources that make Louisiana unique. Sign up at LoveLaWaterways.org.