Keep Louisiana Beautiful shows new website

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Keep Louisiana Beautiful held its regional meeting in Eunice at LSU Eunice campus on Wednesday at the Acadian Center.
Donna Baltakis, director of Keep Eunice Beautiful, said it is the second time the city of Eunice served as the host for the event.
Baltakis, along with other Eunice KEB representatives, and Mayor Scott Fontenot were among the attendees. Those representing the city included Andrea West, Connie Thibodeaux and Fran Guillory.
Some representatives of Keep Louisiana Beautiful included Holli Guilbeau of Keep St. Martin Beautiful; Tara Ross of Calcasieu Parish Police Jury; Blake Trahan of Keep Greater Lake Charles Beautiful; Cindy Murphy of Keep Calcasieu Clean, Ronald W. Young of City of Lake Charles; Donna Curtis of Shreveport Green; Stuart Hodnett of the Ouachita; and Janna Jenkins of Keep Natchitoches Beautiful.
Conducting the Keep Louisiana Beautiful program were Susan Russell, executive director of Keep Louisiana Beautiful, Leslie Tate and Cabell Mouton, KLB affiliate representatives for resource web page.
Tate and Mouton showed the KLB leaders and representatives the new aspects, of the website KeepLouisianaBeautiful.org
Russell showed a slide-show presentation on litter, the KLB program and initiatives, environmental education workshops, and other litter preventative tips, facts and statistics.
Some excerpts from the slide-show included: The KLB program and initiatives include: K-12 education programs, grants funding, litter enforcement workshops, training and resource sharing, volunteer recognition program, public awareness campaign.
Some interesting facts about litter, and actions and impacts from volunteers to KLB include: 17 million pounds recyclables; over 12,000 bags of trash; 664 litter cleanups; 205 recycling events; 681 leaders engaged; 1,179 community partners; and 1,017 trees planted.
Did you know that 52 percent of all litter can be attributed to drivers?
Litter is costly. Louisiana taxpayers spend over $40 million each year on litter removal, disposal, enforcement, prevention and education. In the U.S., litter clean up costs $11.5 billion each year, with businesses paying $9.1 billion. Local and state governments, schools, and other organizations pay the rest.
Litter is illegal. Enforcement can be a huge deterrent to littering. Penalties for littering start at $150 for first offense.
Litter is preventable. 52 percent of all litter comes from motorists and more than 22 percent comes from pedestrians. One can prevent 74 percent of all litter by just using a trash can and a car litter bag.
Litter along all U.S. roadways is estimated at 51.2 billion pieces of litter.
Where does litter come from? Sources of litter from individual behavior are motorists (52 percent); pedestrians (22.8 percent) improperly covered loads (16.4 percent) and improperly secured containers (1.5 percent). Individuals age 29 and under litter more than any other age group.