Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful postpones litter conversation due to COVID-19 surge

The leadership team at Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful had high hopes of fostering a conversation between industry leaders, litter prevention experts, officials at Keep America Beautiful and Gwinnett residents at an Oct. 5 “Connecting People and Places: A Community Conversation about Litter” event. But with COVID-19 infections continuing to rise, GC&B has tabled the discussion until 2022.

“It goes without saying that we’re disappointed the event can’t take place at this time,” said Schelly Marlatt, GC&B Executive Director. “While it was designed to be a hybrid event… we don’t want to put the health and safety of any of our participants and attendees at risk. It’s a very important conversation that we need to have, but it can wait until a later date while we work together as a nation to get a handle on COVID-19 once again.”

Inspired by Keep America Beautiful’s 2020 National Litter Study, which showed indicated a 54% decrease in roadside litter over the past decade, the community conversation hoped to engage local citizens in identifying additional ways to reduce litter. A recent GC&B survey of 192 sites in unincorporated Gwinnett and within city limits indicated a slight uptick in litter locally.