Unicoi County supports No Trash November campaign

No Trash November is off with a bang in Unicoi County. This statewide, month-long litter cleanup campaign aims to remove litter in all 95 counties, showcasing the state's beauty before the holidays and promoting a safer environment for animals, visitors and residents. "Keeping the Valley Beautiful's goals are to engage, inspire and educate the community about litter prevention, reduce-reuse-recycle and beautifying the county," said Karen Dunlap, co-president of Keeping the Valley Beautiful. "Unfortunately, out of necessity we host several litter pickup events each year, but we want to stop litter from happening in the first place." A few of the local litter cleanup and educational activities planned during the month include: the Family-Friendly Community Cleanup held on Nov. 8 at the Town of Unicoi Welcome Center; a litter contest between the departments at Erwin Utilities; a litter contest at Unicoi County High School engaging clubs and teams to compete against one another; a hands-on water litter prevention class held for the YMCA and Unicoi Elementary After School program students, that also includes a litter cleanup walk around the grounds; and UCHS art students are creating art projects from recycled and repurposed items that will be displayed at various locations. "Since this is a month-long event, everyone and anyone can pick up litter as their personal time allows," Dunlap said. KVB reports all results to Keep Tennessee Beautiful and TDOT, who in-turn report to the governor's office. Please contact keepingthevalleybeautiful @yahoo.com with the number of volunteers, as well as the number and size of bags collected, by Nov. 26.