www.KeepPaBeautiful.org

Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful this week announced groups in Bucks, Cambria, Delaware and Juniata counties were winners of Troy-Bilt yard vacs for their participation in the Great PA Cleanup! in April.

“Through the generous sponsorship of Troy-Bilt and the Keep America Beautiful organization, this year’s registered participants in the Great PA Cleanup! were eligible to win one of four Troy-Bilt yard vacs as an additional reward for their hard work,” said Bill Heenan, Co-Chair of Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful and President of the Steel Recycling Institute.

The winners picked by random drawing are:

· Langhorne Borough, Bucks County - 85 volunteers from the Langhorne Rotary Club, Recreation Board, Open Space Board, and Youth Services picked up over 225 bags from the Mayors Park, the Children's Peace Park, the Revolutionary Cemetery, Borough Streets and a local farm.

· Misty Hollow 4H, Cambria County - 16 volunteers walked a mile of Route 36 and picked up approximately 25 bags of trash.

· Hilltop Elementary, Delaware County - 400 students and parents picked up about 40 bags of trash, raked and cleaned the entire school yard and parts of the surrounding neighborhood.

· Central Pennsylvania Conservancy, Juniata County - 8 volunteers cleaned up the Port Royal Environmental Education Area and collected approximately 15 bags of litter.

“The winning groups demonstrate how litter and rural dumping are issues that concern everyone in the community, and how everyone can get together to solve these problems,” said Heenan. “Just these four groups involved over 500 volunteers to pick up over 300 bags of trash at their events in April.”

“Troy-Bilt is pleased to sponsor the year-round beautification efforts of Keep America Beautiful and its affiliate Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful,” said Jon Merrow from Troy-Bilt. “We are proud that our products are used all over the country to help clear debris and maintain landscaping in an effort to improve parks, downtown areas and waterways.”

“It was wonderful to see over 670 groups participating in the Great PA Cleanup! this year— 140 more than last year,” said Heenan. “The results were dramatic in the amount of trash collected and the chance to educate many more people about the harm caused by littering and rural dumping.”

“We also want to thank all the other sponsors of the Great PA Cleanup! in Pennsylvania, including the departments of Transportation, Environmental Protection, Conservation and Natural Resources, the Fish and Boat and Game Commissions, as well as our many private sponsors,” said Heenan.

Sponsors of the Great PA Cleanup! included:

• Pennsylvania Waste Industries Association, Keystone Sanitary Landfill and landfills across the state that accepted Great PA Cleanup! trash for free

• Cities: Allentown, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh • County Conservation Districts

• Keep Lancaster Beautiful • Keep Philadelphia Beautiful • Keep York Beautiful

• Pennsylvania Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus

• PA Builders Association • PA Cleanways • Pennsylvania Farm Bureau

• Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association • Pennsylvania Host Municipal Inspectors

• Pennsylvania Soft Drink Association • Pennsylvania Tourism & Lodging

• United States Steel • Pennsylvania Resource Council

• Pennsylvania Horticultural Society • Penn State Extension Service

• Professional Recyclers of Pennsylvania and County Recycling Coordinators

• Schuylkill Keep It Pretty • Cumberland Valley Chapter, Trout Unlimited

• Various Sportsmen Groups

Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful is an alliance of business, government and community groups dedicated to cleanup and prevention of litter, beautification and proper waste handling.

For more information, visit the Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful website.

5/20/2005