Back to top

Litter Prevention

Image
Nickajack Creek Cleanup

Adopt-A-Mile Program

Litter is an unattractive problem on our roadways.  It’s unsightly, expensive to remove and poses a threat to our motorists, natural habitats, wildlife and our source of water.

What Can You Do?

Keep Cobb Beautiful Adopt-A-Mile (AAM) program is a partnership that allows individuals and/or groups* to improve the appearance of our community!

 A Sense of Community

Program volunteers serve as visible reminders to those who drive our roadways that we are all stewards of the land.   AAM is an excellent way for groups to work together to keep Cobb beautiful.  Cobb County has been reputed as one of the most attractive communities in the Southeast.  Let’s preserve this attribute!

*Business, public or private schools, civic, social, fraternal, community or religious organizations

How to Join

Your Responsibilities

Adopt-a-Mile participants are expected to:

  • Recruit participants 13 years and older
  • Attend safety training prior to initial cleanup
  • Submit releases of liability, parental consent forms, an organization roster and other paperwork
  • Facilitate cleanups on a quarterly basis
  • Monitor your mile on a regular basis
  • Conduct additional cleanups when necessary
  • Submit reports after each cleanup

The County's Role

Keep Cobb Beautiful will provide supplies for cleanup and provide arrangements with Cobb DOT for trash/litter retrieval.  It is preferable that volunteers drop items collected in a dumpster* or at the local transfer station (for a fee).  

*Please ask permission from local business owners before using their dumpsters

No Good Deed Goes Unnoticed

Upon the completion of your first cleanup (report included), Cobb DOT will post a sign along the mile, identifying you and/or your organization as the volunteer(s) who’ve gone the “extra mile” to help keep Cobb beautiful.

Contact us

Keep Cobb Beautiful
1772 County Services Parkway
Marietta, GA 30008
(770) 528-1135
(770) 528-8813 (Fax)
keepcobbbeautiful@cobbcounty.org

Cigarette Litter Prevention Program

Image
Cigarette Litter

Cobb County Smokers: Ever wonder what happens to your cigarette butts once you flick them onto the street, the sidewalk, or anywhere other than the cigarette receptacles? Typically, the wind and rain carry those cigarette butts into Cobb County's water supply. There, toxic chemicals leach out into aquatic ecosystems like the Chattahoochee River and Lake Allatoona (Etowah River), threatening our water quality and many aquatic organisms. Cigarette butts may seem small, but with billions of butts littered each year, the toxic chemicals add up!

Fortunately, Keep Cobb Beautiful, in conjunction with Cobb County Watershed Management and Keep America Beautiful (KAB), has implemented the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program (CCLPP).

The Cigarette Litter Prevention Program (CLPP) is the nation’s largest program aimed at reducing cigarette litter. Keep America Beautiful (KAB) developed the CLPP (KAB-CLPP program webpage) with funding from Philip Morris USA, an Altria company in 2002. The program has received additional support from RAI Services Company and Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company. Since its conception, the program has been implemented in over 1,400 U.S. communities including Cobb County by means of Keep Cobb Beautiful. By providing people with easily accessible information about ash receptacles, pocket and portable ashtrays and other educational tools, KAB, KCB and Cobb County Watershed Management are making strides in educating the public and ensuring a cleaner tomorrow.

Bring One for the Chipper

Image
Bring One for the Chipper Volunteers

Bring One for the Chipper is the state of Georgia’s annual Christmas tree recycling program. As an affiliate, Keep Cobb Beautiful works with sponsors to organize the recycling event for Cobb County. These sponsors include The Home Depot, The Davey Tree Expert Company and Cobb County Parks. Numerous local sponsors and volunteers also make contributions and provide in-kind services.

The Chipper program involves the entire community and countless volunteers. Since its inception, the program has recycled an estimated 5.9 million Christmas trees state wide. The mulch from these trees has been used for playgrounds, local government beautification projects, and individual yards.

You can support the Chipper program by bringing your cut Christmas tree to a designated drop off site or volunteering with your local coordinator to collect trees.

Drop Off Locations

Home Depot

Live undecorated Christmas trees are accepted the first Saturday in January from 9am until 4pm at the following Home Depot Locations in Cobb County:

  • 3355 Cobb Pkwy
    Acworth, GA 30101
  • 1200 East-West Connector
    Austell, GA 30106
  • 2350 Dallas Hwy
    Marietta, GA 30064
  • 4101 Roswell Road NE
    Marietta, GA 30062
  • 449 Roberts Ct NW
    Kennesaw, GA 30144
  • 3605 Sandy Plains Road
    Marietta, GA 30066
  • 1062 Richard Sailors Pkwy
    Powder Springs, GA 30127
  • 1655 Shiloh Road
    Kennesaw, GA 30144
  • 2450 Cumberland Pkwy SE
    Atlanta, GA 30339

 

*PLEASE NOTE:  NO FLOCKED TREES ALLOWED*

"Rivers Alive" Stream Cleanup

Rivers Alive is a volunteer cleanup event that targets all waterways in the State of Georgia. Rivers Alive’s mission is to create awareness of and involvement in the preservation of Georgia’s water resources. Rivers Alive is held annually and is sponsored by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Georgia’s Adopt-A-Stream Program and the Georgia Department of Community Affairs’ Keep Georgia Beautiful Program. Cobb County also hosts various Rivers Alive events throughout the year.

Don’t wait for us!

Georgia’s 70,150 miles of streams, rivers, lakes, beaches and wetlands need your help! If you are aware of an area that needs attention let us know! Our waterways provide us with fresh drinking water, great recreational opportunities like canoeing and fishing, and they serve as a pleasant respite from our busy day to day lives. Everyone contributes to the pollution in our streams. This is your opportunity to help by giving something back to the environment! Help us clean our rivers, streams, lakes, beaches and wetlands by supporting Rivers Alive!

If you are interested in volunteering or need further information, call (770) 528-1135 or email keepcobbbeautiful@cobbcounty.org.

Neighborhood Sweep

Neighborhood clean sweeps have become community gatherings, offering citizens an opportunity to reacquaint themselves with old friends and make new ones. In partnership with Cobb County’s Public Safety, Community Development and Department of Transportation, Keep Cobb Beautiful has been able to create awareness about litter prevention and reduce litter violations in our communities.  With the assistance of county crews, residents are able to aid in removing graffiti, litter from illegal dumping, and restoring their neighborhoods through beautification projects.  Educating the public is the key!  The more your neighbors are involved the greater the community’s support system.

Join us!

While clean sweep events can be organized and held year round, during the Great American Clean (GAC), March 20 - June 20th, is when Cobb residents truly shine.  Neighborhood sweeps during the GAC have become team-building exercises for neighborhood associations, church groups, school clubs and teams, and civic organizations.  Residents can also take advantage of neighborhood sweeps and GAC individually, by cleaning their own properties, nearby sidewalks/curbsides and placing the bulk rebuff at designated locations, knowing a county crew will soon come by to retrieve it.

You and your neighbors can work together to make your surroundings neat and clean with the Neighborhood Clean Sweep/Great American Cleanup program.

How to get started!

Organize a group and identify the specific needs in your area, then tailor your cleanup effort to meet those needs.  Contact your local homeowners association or community organization to find out if you already have a “sweep” planned this year.

If not, talk to your neighbors and contact Keep Cobb Beautiful at (770) 528-1135 (or email us at KeepCobbBeautiful@cobbcounty.org) to arrange a Neighborhood Sweep or to join a local cleanup initiative.