DawsonTimes.com

Dawson County Girl Scouts are doing their part for a cleaner, greener Dawson County.  At the beginning of March, the scouts answered a challenge by Keep Dawson County Beautiful to enter into a recycling contest.

For five weeks, the girls collected plastic grocery bags from friends, neighbors and businesses to keep them out of the landfill.  How many grocery bags can 33 Girl Scouts collect for recycling in just over a month?  Nearly 13,000! 

“Keep Dawson County Beautiful is so proud of this group,” said KDCB Executive Director Cathy Brooks.  “Not only are they keeping these items from entering the landfill, they are also instrumental in preventing and removing litter in our community,” Brooks said.

Four of six local troops participated in the project coordinated by Troop Leader RussAnna Dudley, including Troops 10612, 10613, 10614, and 10617.  Girl Scout Troop 10614 took top honors in the contest, collecting 8,300 plastic grocery bags. Three $25 prizes were awarded in the contest, along with a $50 prize for the top collecting troop.

The scouts also observed Earth Day with a celebration and clean-up at Nix Bridge Park on April 19.

The Dawson County Girl Scouts began their recycling project as part of the Great American Clean Up “Green Starts Here” campaign which continues through May 31.  Keep Dawson County Beautiful encourages everyone to join in this nationwide event.  “Be creative. Organize your business, church, neighborhood or civic group to select a project that will impact the community in a variety of litter prevention, beautification, and waste minimization activities,” suggests Brooks. “Plant flowers, clean a vacant lot, beautify one of our landmarks, hold a recycling event, pick up litter; the choice is yours,” she said.  “Dawson County Kiwanis also recently completed a series of litter pickups as part of the event and more planned events are on the horizon,” continued Brooks.

To schedule a Great American Clean Up event, please contact Cathy Brooks at 706-344-3501 x 255 or emailcbrooks@dawsoncounty.org.

Keep Dawson County Beautiful focuses on bringing meaningful change to our environment through quality of life services including litter prevention, solid waste planning and coordination, environmental education, beautification and conservation.  For more information visitwww.keepdawsoncountybeautiful.com.

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