PROGRAM ACHIEVEMENTS 2004-2005
Keep Evanston Beautiful, Inc. provides educational programs for the Evanston community to promote the responsible use of our natural resources through the three R's - reduce, reuse & recycle. We also encourage the aesthetic improvement of our community through litter prevention and landscaping. During the past year, we have continued or set in motion the following projects:

TRASHBUSTER'S DAY - the last week in April, volunteers helped pick up a winter's worth of trash all around Evanston, in parks, shopping districts and around schools. Volunteers were comprised of families, students, church groups, scout troops, neighborhood groups and individuals.

ADOPT-A-SPOT - in a effort to improve the litter situation in Evanston year-'round, we have started recruiting individuals, groups and businesses to "adopt" areas around Evanston which are prone to litter. See our list of adopted spots.

WALTER LUCANSKY AWARD for Environmental Stewardship--Initiated in March of 2003, the Lucansky award recognizes a person who has made a significant contribution to the Evanston environment.

back to top

15TH ANNUAL EARTH DAY CONTEST - Hundreds of Evanston students pondered the question of what to make using recyled content. The imaginative responses were wonderful. Alderman Melissa Wynne presented the awards at a ceremony in the City Council Chambers.

GREEN TEAM - formed in 1999, the Green Team is comprised of teachers representing all the elementary and middle schools in Evanston. This years meetings focused on teacher education programs. A master Papermaker taught the art of papermaking to teachers from around the school district. Papermaking shows the value of natural resources and how they can be used. Another workshop focused on early spring gardens and using gardens in the classroom as an environmental tool. Funded in part by a grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

HOUSEHOLD BATTERY RECYCLING - we worked in cooperation with the City to set up a drop-off system at all Evanston fire stations and the Ecology Center, where residents brought their expired batteries. Keep Evanston Beautiful paid for the cost of this recycling, about $1,800 per load.

INKJET CARTRIDGE RECYCLING - we have set up dispensers for postage-paid envelopes in various locations around Evanston, so that residents can mail in their spent cartridges for re-use. KEB receives $1 for each cartridge that is successfully recycled. Merchants who can display a dispenser should phone the KEB office.

CELL PHONE RECYCLING - KEB implemented a program to take cell phones and send them to a company in who refurbishes the phones for use in third world countries or disposes of the phones in an environmentally safe manner.

ATHLETIC SHOE RECYCLING - KEB in conjunction with SWANCC and Nike coordinated athletic shoe recycling in Evanston in April. A vanload of atletic shoes was kept out of the landfill, and returned to Nike. The soles of the shoes are ground up into "Nike Grind" an athletic surface for playgrounds and sports fields.

AMERICA RECYCLES DAY - on a weekend in November KEB, Can Man and students from St. Athanasius encouraged Evanston residents to "Buy Recycled" and gave out inkjet recycling envelopes at Whole Foods Market and Peoples Market in Evanston.

GARDEN WALK - this June was our 15th annual Garden Walk, a look at seven private and one public garden in Evanston. This is our annual fundraiser, which has become very popular, generally attended by about 500 people. As well as raising money for KEB, the Garden Walk has encouraged residents to improve their property through landscaping, to the aesthetic benefit of the community as a whole.

back to top

KEB WEBSITE - we maintain a website, which gives visitors information about our events and programs, as well as general information about recycling and waste reduction. We provide links to several other sites as well. For the Adopt-A-Spot program, we will give the adoptive person or company credit on our site.

 

PUBLIC EVENTS - during the summer, KEB has representatives at not-for-profit day at the Farmer's Market, giving out information about recycling and waste reduction and about KEB.

canman fourth of july

back to top

Achievements from 2002-2003