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Brookland Wins Arkansas Shine Award from Keep Arkansas Beautiful

Community honored for recycling efforts

BROOKLAND (Sep. 9, 2009) - The City of Brookland is one of six statewide recipients of the second annual Arkansas Shine Awards from the Keep Arkansas Beautiful Commission (KAB). KAB representatives presented the award to city officials at a reception today at Brookland City Hall. The Arkansas Shine Awards program recognizes communities that are making significant strides in providing programs and instituting policies to create sustainable communities.

The City of Brookland, through grants from the Craighead County Solid Waste District Authority, instituted a weekly curbside recycling program and promotes it through a weekly drawing that awards $25 to a participating resident. This incentive program has “really boosted the number of participants in our curbside pickup,” wrote Mayor Kenneth Jones in Brookland’s Arkansas Shine Awards entry.

The City also promotes recycling through local schools. Each year around Earth Day, Mayor Jones visits Brookland Elementary School to talk about recycling. He takes examples of materials that can be recycled through the curbside-pickup program and gives students a curbside-recycling bag and instruction sheet to take home to their parents.

“The residents of the City of Brookland have become obsessed with recycling in the past couple of years,” Jones continued. “Our residents have a real desire to make the community we live in a better place by reducing the amount of trash they throw away each week.”

Over the past 18 months, the city has collected more than 33,000 pounds of recyclables. “[That] is an average of 2,328 pounds per month,” Jones wrote in the entry. “At this current rate, we should exceed last year’s total by approximately 6,000 pounds.” Since initiating the curbside-recycling program five years ago, the number of recycling bags placed at the curbside for pickup has tripled.

Other efforts are under way in Brookland to encourage a “green” lifestyle and sustainability, according to Brookland’s award entry. Community service workers pick up litter from city roadsides and in the local park. Brookland High School EAST Lab and Science Club students have begun a white paper recycling program. Youth from the Brookland Church of Christ pick up litter along a one-mile stretch of U.S. Hwy 49 N through the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department’s Adopt-A-Highway program. With assistance from the Craighead County code enforcement officer, the City of Brookland has closed several illegal dumping sites. The Brookland code enforcement officer is successfully dealing with overgrown properties and abandoned vehicles within the city limits.

“By showcasing these accomplishments, KAB honors the pride and spirit that produces noteworthy activities, salutes community leaders and selfless volunteers whose work makes it happen, and spotlights outstanding achievements that we hope will stimulate similar programs in communities around Arkansas,” said Robert Phelps, director of KAB.

Arkansas Shine Awards entries were evaluated and ranked using performance standards for 1) creating environmental initiatives to reduce litter, encourage recycling and enhance natural beauty; 2) positively impacting economic development; 3) developing public-private partnerships to accomplish goals; 4) securing project funding; and 5) enforcing litter laws and city ordinances for property upkeep. One Arkansas Shine Awards winner was named in each of six population categories.

The Keep Arkansas Beautiful Commission is a division of
the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism.

The Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism is in compliance with
the Freedom of Information, Ar Code Ann., § 25-19-101 et seq.

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