Photo above courtesy of Barry Krebs
by Lindsey Bankston
“I have a strong passion for the environment, and I genuinely cannot think of anything else I would rather be doing on a Saturday morning,” said Barry Krebs, an avid volunteer and the Chair of the 2022-23 Keep Cobb Beautiful (KCB) board of directors.
The members and volunteers of KCB are vocal about how grateful they are to have an outlet for recycling and waste reduction, seeing the importance of a program like this with the unique set up of trash collection in the county.
Its Purpose
Since 1984, when the organization was called the Cobb Clean Commission, the minds behind the Keep Cobb Beautiful organization have made a commitment to remove waste within the county.
Today, KCB is a Keep America Beautiful affiliate focusing on three main elements: litter prevention, beautification and waste reduction/recycling.
Composed of regular Cobb residents, board members receive no compensation for their involvement. The hope of the group is solely to take care of their home. As the largest affiliate in Cobb, KCB also plays a big hand in the trash collection process, serving unincorporated Cobb County and cities without an affiliate.
The group holds all kinds of community events, usually at Jim Miller Park in Marietta, that involve the collection of trash and materials that cannot readily be recycled, a requirement of Keep America Beautiful affiliates. Some of their most popular collection events are for textiles, hard-to-recycle plastics, metals, medications, electronics, and shredding.
Waste Reduction in Cobb
A 2020 study from Keep America Beautiful outlined the main sources of litter in the country, citing approximately 25.9 billion pieces of litter in waterways around the nation, only a bit more than the 23.7 billion littered around roadways. Cigarette butts were the most reported type of litter.
This was true even in Cobb County, encouraging KCB to partner with KAB to put a…
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