Cleaning up makes a difference

Keep America Beautiful hosts annual event

Making one's city beautiful and clean takes work, consideration and a sense of community, at least that's how Keep America Beautiful Topeka/Shawnee County executive director Brittany Laughlin sees it.

The local division of Keep America Beautiful (KAB), a nonprofit organization that works to clean up communities, will host its annual Get Down and Get Dirty event April 27. Laughlin said she is excited to meet new people who will help her clean up trash in the city.

This spring cleaning event is hosted on the last Saturday of April each year.

Volunteers clean up trash all over the city's public spaces and share a lunch with one another.

Laughlin said over the years, the event has grown larger and larger.

"It's just really fun, and I'm so excited to see KAB continue to grow," Laughlin said.

More than 600 participants helped clean up Topeka at 2023 event

Last year, the event had more than 600 participants who cleaned up 6.5 tons of trash in Topeka. Laughlin said it was awesome to make such an impact and she hopes this year is even bigger.

She said about 100 more people than last year have signed up for the event and she wants even more people to join in.

"I'm just always excited to spread the word of what we do," Laughlin said. "So, I'm very thankful and I'm hoping that this will maybe help people understand what we do a little more."

However, she said she understand not everyone can attend on the designated day, so she invites people to reach out to her if they want help organizing cleanups no matter when they are.

Ensuring a community is clean has massive benefits including better mental health, cleaner groundwater and overall a healthier environment, Laughlin said. When driving around town, she said some of the places that usually need the most help are busy roadways and parking lots.

"A lot of people unfortunately have trash in their car," Laughlin said. "So like today, if it is a windy day and they were to open their car, the trash would blow out. They weren't meaning to do it, but it's something that happened we could have prevented."

A few easy steps can help keep Topeka clean

Laughlin said cleaning a community is something anyone can do if they just take the time to be considerate.

She suggested people take trash bags with them on walks, not to litter and to clean up after themselves. She also encouraged people to participate in such KAB events as the Get Down and Get Dirty or in the Halloween cemetery cleanup project.

Considering the environment around the community makes a difference for Laughlin.

"Every day we can just think about where we're putting our trash, what products we're buying to maybe reduce the packaging and where our products are coming from," Laughlin said. "All these kinds of things will affect how we have to recycle or to put out the trash."

For those interested in Get Down and Get Dirty or participating in other KAB cleanup projects, email kab@kabtopsh.org or call 785-224-0446.