Launching today, the Greatest American Cleanup will culminate with America’s 250th birthday in 2026, engaging citizens, companies, and communities to create a cleaner, greener, and more beautiful America.
Keep America Beautiful the leading nonprofit dedicated to inspiring people to take action every day to improve and beautify their communities, has selected Carol Cone ON PURPOSE (CCOP), a leading social impact consultancy, to develop strategies, creative engagement and partnership relations to launch and activate the Greatest American Cleanup.
On July 4, 2026, the United States will reach a historic milestone: the nation’s 250th birthday. Commencing today and spanning the next two years, the Greatest American Cleanup will engage 25,000 communities to collect 25 billion pieces of debris to clean, green, and beautify the nation. More importantly, Keep America Beautiful and its partners will lead the way in rekindling community pride, helping our nation overcome the fear and divisiveness plaguing the country, creating shared hope across all communities, and shaping a beautiful future for all Americans. Watch the launch video here.
“This is an historic cleanup for an historic moment,” said Keep America Beautiful President and CEO Jennifer Lawson. “As Americans come together to celebrate our 250th birthday, we all have a role to play in making our nation look its very best. We’re inviting all Americans to join us as we pay tribute to the proud legacy and can-do spirit of our beautiful country.”
Today, Keep America Beautiful—together with more than 700 nationwide affiliates, sponsors and local, state and federal government entities—are calling upon all individuals and community groups to visit kab.org/greatest and take action to “do beautiful things” in their neighborhoods, towns, cities and states.
The Coca-Cola Company, a long-time supporter of Keep America Beautiful, is one of the Greatest American Cleanup’s founding partners. Additional national partners include Hilton Hotels & Resorts, iHeart Media, Niagara Cares, and many others.
The nation’s 250th birthday is a unique and unprecedented opportunity for companies to connect with all Americans, get hands-on, and be part of history. The Greatest American Cleanup will offer countless engagement opportunities for companies of all sizes and industries to join forces with Keep America Beautiful in a movement that goes far beyond picking up trash—including designations of the nation’s top 250 cleanest and greenest communities, tree plantings, recycling drives, restoration projects, and groundbreaking research on civic engagement through beautification. Companies can team up with employees, consumers, and influencers to create an enduring legacy of beauty in their communities, present exclusive awards to shine a spotlight on the most stunning community transformations, or orchestrate a call to kids across the country to design the next Keep America Beautiful mascot/symbol of community pride.
This work will be led directly by Carol Cone and a team managed by her long-term collaborators Kristian Merenda and Audrey Sylvia, industry veterans who created the GO RED for Women movement in 2004, named one of the top 20 campaigns of the last two decades. Joining CCOP in igniting the Greatest American Cleanup movement is digital marketing leader Matchfire, a Purpose Collaborative member.
"We are thrilled to partner with Keep America Beautiful on this critically-important initiative to bring Americans together around our nation’s 250th birthday," said Carol Cone, CEO of Carol Cone ON PURPOSE. "The Greatest American Cleanup will be an iconic moment for companies to play a lead role in delivering social benefits, economic advantages, environmental impact and improved mental and physical health for all Americans—all through this simple call to action to keep our communities clean, green and beautiful.”
Individuals, community groups, companies, government entities and like-minded nonprofits interested in joining the movement should visit kab.org/greatest to learn more and declare their support for the Greatest American Cleanup.
Keep America Beautiful, the nation’s leading community improvement nonprofit organization, inspires and educates people to take action every day to improve and beautify their community environment. Established in 1953, Keep America Beautiful strives to end littering, improve recycling, and beautify America’s communities.
Comments