Keep Perry County Beautiful:
Empowering people to eliminate illegal dumping
and littering in Pennsylvania.

Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful is a state wide non-profit organization that helps people who are ready to take action against illegal dumping and littering in their communities. Our core programs revolve around cleanups, adoptions and education. Keep Perry County Beautiful is an affiliate of Keep Pensylvania Beautiful and is supported by the Perry County Commissioners and the Perry County Conservation District.

Volunteers at Boots Hollow clean-up in Perry County

If you're bothered by illegal dumping and littering as much as we are, we hope you'll join us in working toward a cleaner Perry County. There are lots of ways to get involved - here are just a few:

• Volunteering at local cleanups
• Adopting a local roadway, greenway, or other special place you care about
• Learning more about illegal dumping and how it can be eliminated

Please check our homepage for upcoming cleanups. Click here to download a Volunteer Waiver (99KB). For more information on Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, visit their website at www.keeppabeautiful.org                             

Boots Hollow clean-up, Perry County

Keep Perry County Beautiful History

In 2010, PA CleanWays merged with Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful to pool resources and educational programs. Three focus areas Clean it! Prevent it! Keep it! were identified as priorities for the newly named group. PA CleanWays of Perry County became Keep Perry County Beautiful. The mission of keeping our roads and neighborhoods clean remains the same, only the name has changed.

For nearly two decades, the PA CleanWays grassroots network has been cleaning dumpsites and littered areas across the state of Pennsylvania.  Along with its other programming, such as recycling and special collection events, PA CleanWays and its chapters and affiliates have removed over 10,200 tons of trash and recycled 2,150 tons of scrap metal from Pennsylvania's hillsides, local roads, and streams. PA CleanWays has also collected or removed 362,585 tires and 24,306 appliances. More than 353 segments of local roads, parks/pathways, and waterways have been adopted through the PA CleanWays adoption program. PA CleanWays has organized and planted more than 22,000 trees on public lands through its beautification program.  In total, more than 47,000 volunteers have dedicated nearly 196,000 volunteer hours to PA CleanWays programming.

PA CleanWays works with people that want to clean their communities and natural areas. We work primarily on public lands, from a site along a municipal road to a greenway in a county park to a site in a state forest, park, or game land. On occasion, PA CleanWays does tackle private land sites but only if the owner of the land is a victim of illegal dumping.

Why should you care about dumping? Dumpsites pollute our soil, surface, and groundwater supplies as well as the air we breathe if a site catches on fire. They attract disease spreading rodents and are breeding grounds for mosquitoes that may carry West Nile Virus. Dumpsites are a potential source of physical injury to people and can be lethal to wildlife. They are costly to clean, costs that are often shouldered by taxpayers. As an example, in 2007, the Philadelphia Daily News reported that the city of Philadelphia spent $1.9 million cleaning up illegal dumpsites the previous year. PA CleanWays has found that, depending on the contents of the dumpsite, it costs between $600 and $1,000 per ton for clean up and removal.