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Van Buren Wins Arkansas Shine Award from Keep Arkansas Beautiful

Community honored for well-rounded community-improvement efforts

VAN BUREN (Sep. 15, 2009) -

The City of Van Buren 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 the King Opera House in Van Buren. The Arkansas Shine Awards program recognizes communities that are making significant strides in providing programs and instituting policies to create sustainable communities.

“A number of programs, organizations, new equipment and efforts have come into place in the past two years to make a tremendous positive impact on our community,” wrote Mayor Bob Freeman in Van Buren’s Arkansas Shine Awards entry. “The partnerships between each and every entity have made a difference, and the parts have made a huge difference on the whole.”

Two programs that Van Buren’s awards entry highlighted are the Saturday Service Worker Program and the Van Buren School District recycling program. 

The Saturday Service Worker Program is an initiative that sentences offenders from municipal courts to litter-pickup crews instead of jail. The litter-pickup crews works three Saturdays a month. The program is managed by Keep Van Buren Beautiful (KVBB) and is funded by the City and the Van Buren Advertising and Promotion Commission. Other entities, including the local Police, Probation and Municipal Utilities departments and the Municipal Court, are all part of the coalition that created and sustains the program.

“Its impact on the city cleanup is unprecedented,” wrote Freeman in the awards entry. “[The program] has reduced trash on the streets by 1,550 30-gallon trash bags in the last year alone. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first program of its kind [that] is managed by a community organization rather than a governmental agency.”

 KVBB, Green Source and the Van Buren School District started a school-recycling program that has recycled more than 184 tons of materials in just over a year. Recycling bins are available in each of the district’s 13 schools for collecting white paper and other recyclables. The program has been so successful that it was recognized in the Arkansas Legislature with a resolution introduced by State Rep. Rick Green of Van Buren.

 “[This program] has made a significant difference in the overall appearance of our city, increasing community pride,” wrote Freeman in the awards entry. “The recycling education that the students receive not only is seen within the respective schools, but is carried to the home and will carry [on] for a lifetime.”

Other efforts in Van Buren to curb litter, beautify and improve, and encourage recycling included Crawford County’s first-ever e-waste recycling event, which collected 32,000 pounds of electronics for recycling. KVBB initiated a “Pick Up While You Walk” campaign to encourage individuals to carry a bag and pick up litter when they walked around town for exercise. Grants from Keep America Beautiful enabled KVBB to institute a cigarette-litter prevention program that has reduced cigarette litter in historic downtown Van Buren by half.

“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 entrants 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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