This weekend is the official kick-off for an annual campaign to clear litter and beautify the Natural State.
The 2025 Great Arkansas Cleanup from Keep Arkansas Beautiful begins on Saturday. Volunteer Program Manager Robyn Taylor says there are many ways to join the campaign.
“A lot of that is focused on litter removal. We have people that do bulky waste drop offs, we have cities and local towns that will set up recycling drives, there’s just lots of ways you can get involved,” Taylor told Little Rock Public Radio, adding volunteers are welcome to come up with their own ideas for projects, too.
“So if you just want to renovate downtown and repaint something and add new signage, you can do that. If you want to clean headstones at your local cemetery and pull weeds, you can do that,” she said. “You can host huge litter cleanups and have everybody in the county come. It's basically as big or small as you want it to be.”
The Great Arkansas Cleanup runs every year from the first weekend after Labor Day to the end of October. The start coincides with Carl Garner Federal Lands Cleanup Day, honoring U.S. Army Corps engineer Carl Garner, who led efforts to clean Greer’s Ferry Lake. Garner died in 2014 at the age of 99.
Taylor said it’s easy to host your own cleanup or join a nearby group using the Keep Arkansas Beautiful calendar of events.
“There you can go and see every event that's registered for public participation, or, like I said, you can just get online and register.” Taylor said signing up takes around three minutes.
“Once you sign up we’ll send you free supplies that you need for your cleanup, so that’s gloves, trash bags, safety vests, volunteer t-shirts while supplies last, everything you need to help clean up and beautify your community.”
Taylor said all are welcome to participate in the Great Arkansas Cleanup. Keep Arkansas Beautiful is funded by 1% of the ⅛ state conservation tax, meaning all materials are free to Arkansas residents.
Keep Arkansas Beautiful also has other programs running throughout the year, such as service learning opportunities for high school students. Arkansas public school students graduating in the 2026-27 school year are required to have served at least 75 hours in service-learning activities, as part of the Arkansas LEARNS Act of 2023.
“Outside of our cleanups we have lots of ideas. Students can come and read from different categories, whether that's beautification, conservation, recycling, and see all the different cool ways other students are doing their service learning hours with us,” Taylor said. “You can come up with your own ideas or simply populate the list and pick something that speaks to you.”
Keep Arkansas Beautiful is a state department affiliated with the nationwide nonprofit Keep America Beautiful. Taylor said there are 13 local affiliates within the state, including Keep Little Rock Beautiful, Keep Fayetteville Beautiful, and Keep Jonesboro Beautiful.
Keep Arkansas Beautiful cleared 1,366 tons of litter and collaborated with over 20,000 volunteers in 2024, according to the latest volunteer impact report.
Next weekend Keep Little Rock Beautiful will host a cleanup at Murray Park from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, September 13. Trash bags and disposable gloves will be available while supplies last.
A full list of state affiliates and events as well as volunteer and sign up information is available at keeparkansasbeautiful.com.
