OKLAHOMA CITY Keep Oklahoma Beautiful honored communities and civic groups for their participation in the Great American Cleanup and Paint Oklahoma Beautiful programs at the 34th annual Environmental Excellence Celebration, November 22, at the Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.
Paint Oklahoma Beautiful is a program that supplies recycled paint that would have otherwise ended up in the landfill to communities for paint projects. Keep Oklahoma Beautiful partners with H.I.S. Paint to recycle the paint, and Oklahoma DEQ and Oklahoma Forestry Services for sponsorship and distribution. Communities Primed for A Change winners are decided by an online public vote.
Best Visual Impact, which was chosen by H.I.S. founder Joe Cox, was awarded to the Okeene Historic Preservation Group for the restoration of a historic supply store.
First place was awarded to the City of Choctaw; second place was awarded to the City of Collinsville; and third place was awarded to Drumright Chamber of Commerce. The three communities were awarded stipends to continue their community improvement work.
All finalists and winners at the Environmental Excellence Celebration were honored at the 600person event which featured presentations by Lieutenant Governor Matt Pinnell; Rob Singletary, Executive Director of Oklahoma DEQ; Tim Gatz, Executive Director of ODOT; and Victoria Tran, Oklahoma Deputy Secretary of Environment.
The Great American Cleanup runs annually from March to May. Keep Oklahoma Beautiful supplies trash bags, gloves, safety vests, Tshirts, and trash grabbers for volunteers. ODOT’s State Maintenance Engineer, Taylor Henderson, presented two Great American Cleanup awards to top participants in their annual Trash-Off, a statewide cleanup day each April.
The ODOT Trash-Off Rookie Award was presented to the Konawa Lions Club in Seminole County. This award goes to the best cleanup for an organization that is a new Trash-Off program participant.
The ODOT Trash-Off Best Campaign Award was presented to Adair County Litter Free & Green Association for its monthly recycling, tire collection, and free trash disposal programs.
OG&E awards microgrants to participants in the Great American Cleanup. The funding helps municipalities and civic groups pay for supplies and refreshments for litter remediation projects. Jeff Everett, OG&E’s Environmental Regulatory Manager, presented the Start-Up Award for new participants and the Growth Award for those who have participated three or more times.
OG&E Start-Up Award was presented to Durant Sustainability Coalition for their Earth Day celebration and community volunteer program.
OG&E Growth Award was presented to the City of Stroud for its citywide clean-up events.
For more information, visit www.keepoklahomabeautiful. com, or contact Maeve Phillips, Program Director, at 405286-9141.