Keep Midland Beautiful is dedicated to the improvement of Midland through litter prevention, waste reduction, beautification and environmental education. We are an affiliate of Keep America Beautiful and Keep Texas Beautiful.
New TreeKeepers group forming now
Get in on the formation of the “new” way to take care of trees, Midland and your yard by joining NOW! Keep Midland Beautiful invites everyone between the ages of 16 and 100 with an interest in Midland’s urban forests to join TreeKeeper. If you are interested in the proper way to maintain our public trees (and yours at home) please call 687-7400 today. Meetings will begin soon conducted by Certified Arborist Jeff Floyd to share proper pruning practices, mulching, weeding, tree identification and pest control, plus how and what you want TreeKeepers to be. Individuals needing community service hours are encouraged to join.
Becoming a TreeKeeper is easy. Call the Keep Midland Beautiful office at 687-7400. You’ll be told about the next meeting, you’ll receive training, and you’re on your way!
TreeKeepers is a special program of Keep Midland Beautiful, for the maintenance of trees, and conservation and restoration of our natural environment and urban forest.
With people purchasing new TVs in fear of their old set not working with the cable change, the Permian Basin Regional Planning Commission, Keep Odessa Beautiful, Keep Midland Beautiful and other Permian Basin communities will partner to host a special electronics recycling event during the month of August. This may be the ONLY time to recycle your old television sets. We recognize the need to offer a recycling event to properly dispose of “residential personal-use television sets” and other electronics. KOB/KMB will hold an electronic recycling event at the Household Hazardous Waste Facility on August 8th.
We have made arrangements with an electronics recycling company to recycle these electronics within the United States. The City of Odessa will provide the facilities to receive residential personal use TV’s and other electronics.
Other communities in the Permian Basin, including but not limited to, Ft. Stockton and Andrews, will be participating as well. The month of August will be the best time to recycle your TV. Permian Basin communities need to inquire with their individual cities regarding dates and times.
Keep Odessa Beautiful and Keep Midland Beautiful hope this will help encourage TV recycling and keep all materials that can be recycled out of the Landfill.
Gardening Programs open to public
Texas AgriLIFE invites you to their Earth-Kind Backyard Composting Class at 6 pm on June 9th and 11th at the Commemorative Air Force Museum, 9600 Wright Drive. Learn how to improve your soils, garden and landscape by recycling yard and kitchen waste into soil enriching mulch and compost. There will be classroom instruction, outdoor demonstrations and a session on vermiculture during these two evenings. You’ll also receive a compost bin, compost thermometer and manual ($50 value). Classes are free but you must register by calling 432-498-4071.
Sponsored by Texas AgriLIFE Extension Service, PBRPC, TCEQ, City of Odessa, Keep Odessa Beautiful, Keep Midland Beautiful, Permian Basin Master Gardeners and the City of Midland.
The Midland County Extension office also wants you to join them for a field trip to a West Texas pecan orchard on June 4th at Fort Stockton at Belding Farms. For more details call 432-686-4700.
Great American Cleanup/Don't Mess with Texas Trash-Off successful despite West Texas winds!
KMB volunteers are the toughest and the best volunteers in the state! With winds gusting up to 50 miles per hour, volunteers literally had litter blowing out of the trash bags they had just put in. But over 1,000 volunteers still collected litter on April 4th for the Great American Cleanup/Don't Mess with Texas Trash-Off. Other groups chose to go out on less windy days making the final results of the 2009 spring cleanup as follows:
2,960 volunteers collected almost 72 tons of trash, recyclables, furniture, debris, etc.
122 groups gathers for this cleanup to show their pride in Midland and all of them deserve a big "Great Job!" for being responsible, for taking pride in their community, and for keeping Midland beautiful.
Special thanks go out to our wonderful cleanup sponsors: H.E.B., Southtex Renewables, Community National Bank, Midland College, Oncor Energy, Permian Basin Area-Wide Phone Book, City of Midland, Texas Burger, Taco Villa, Duncan Disposal, Secured Document Shredding, Coca-Cola, Chevron, Wes-Tex RC&D, Midland Memorial Hospital, Standard Sales, Discount Materials, Legacy Reserves, Butts Plastering, and Homeport.
Please plan to join us October 10th for the Make a Difference Day Annual Fall Cleanup.
Keep Midland Beautiful Receives Prestigious State Environmental Award Community One of Nine Governor’s Community Achievement Award Winners
Keep Texas Beautiful announced Keep Midland Beautiful as one of nine winners of the 2009 Governor’s Community Achievement Award (GCAA) for outstanding community improvement. The honor recognizes Keep Midland Beautiful with one of the most celebrated annual environmental and community improvement awards in Texas. The winners will share $1 million in landscape grants from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). Keep Midland Beautiful will receive $155,000 for a landscaping project along a local state right-of-way.
Communities submitted materials to one of nine population categories and judges chose the winners based on their achievements in seven environmental and community improvement areas: community leadership and coordination, education, public awareness, litter prevention and cleanup, illegal dumping enforcement, beautification and property improvement, and solid waste management.
The accomplishments for Keep Midland Beautiful for 2008 are listed here.
The GCAA program has recognized outstanding communities for 23 consecutive years, with TxDOT providing prize funds since 1985. Keep Midland Beautiful will receive its award on June 11, 2009 in Houston during the 42nd Annual Keep Texas Beautiful Conference.
Reminder: Recycling Left Outside of Containers can become Litter
Residents of Midland are enthusiastic about recycling! But some are taking it a bit too far. Items for recycling are being left OUTSIDE of the containers at some public recycling areas – and that can be considered littering. More...
KMB teams up to provide a free public drop-off site for household toxins
Keep Midland Beautiful and West-Tex Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) recently teamed with Midland’s Eco-logical Environmental Services, Inc. to provide a free public drop-off site for household toxins that shouldn’t be thrown in the trash.
Did you know...?
Americans generate 1.6 million tons of Hazardous Household Waste (HHW) per year.
The average home can accumulate as much as 100 pounds of HHW in the
basement and garage and in storage closets.
For a limited time, Midlanders seeking to dispose of their household hazardous waste in a free, legal, and evironmentally friendly way can drop off the following types of products:
Cleaning solutions
Herbicides
Insecticides
Solvents
Acids
Small amounts of oil and grease
Clean (triple-rinsed) chemical containers
To dispose of these houshold products, take them to:
Eco-Logical Environment Services
2200 Market (off Industrial, near the Loop)
Monday-Friday, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Phone 432.520.7535
Open to the public – No commercial disposal
The following items are absolutely prohibited:
Bio-hazardous waste
Radioactive waste
Medication for humans or animals
Unlabeled chemical products
Funding for this drop-off project is being provided by a grant from RC&D, the money for which comes from fines leveled by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality imposed on violators of environmental regulations in Midland County. The drop-off will continue until these funds are exhausted.
For more information, call Eco-Logical Environment Services (432.520.7535) or KMB (432.687.7400).
Corporate Sponsors Page
Keep Midland Beautiful is fortunate to have some wonderful corporate sponsors, and their generous assistance is greatly appreciated. Please visit our Sponsors webpage for links to those sponsors.
Recycling Locations (Updated 12/18/08)
At Midland College in the parking lot of the Chaparral Center - has container for cardboard, container for plastics where the neck is smaller than the base, container for aluminum and container for paper.
Off Wadley and Midkiff - has container for cardboard, container for all plastics where the neck is smaller than the base, and special red container for plastic bags
Off Midland Drive and Loop 250 - has recycling containers for cardboard, paper and all plastics where the neck is smaller than the base.
Off Rankin Highway and I-20 - has recycling containers for cardboard and paper.
Off Cuthbert and Andrews Highway - has container for cardboard, container for paper, container for plastics where neck is smaller than the base and container for aluminum.
Off Scharbauer Drive and Big Spring - has a cardboard recycling container.
The recycling containers at the MISD Elementary schools remain in place.
ALL recyclables can be taken to Butts Recycling Monday thru Saturday. They are located at 26 West Industrial Loop.
REMEMBER - Recycle Red White and Blue, it’s the right thing to do
Red = aluminum White = cardboard Blue = paper
"Pick Up Some Trash To Pick Up Some Cash"
Now all non-profit organizations, churches and schools in Midland have a new fundraising project that will be sure to spark their interest! It's an easy way to make money for your group and take pride in your community!
Keep Midland Beautiful is all about keeping Midland a litter free community. Here is your chance to participate in a great project that will not only keep Midland litter free but will also help you reach your fundraising goals.
Here's how it works - the amount you can earn will be calculated by the number of people from your group participating in the cleanup and by the number of hours each participant works during the cleanup.
For instance, if 10 people clean for 3 hours each at $5.00 per hour that would equal $150. If 20 people clean for 4 hours each at $5.00 per hour that would equal $400.
Other details your group should know:
Maximum amount of money to be earned per cleanup is $500.
Each group is limited to 3 cleanups a year.
Each group may only do 1 cleanup per month.
The areas to be cleaned will be chosen by Keep Midland Beautiful. Tax-exempt
non-profit Adopt-A-Spot groups are eligible to clean a different spot for these funds under this new program.
Each clean-up group will be provided with trash bags, gloves, vests and a camera for documentation.
Each group will be asked to take a picture that identifies the area that you are cleaning (a sign, etc.), take before and after pictures of your area, take pictures of your group cleaning and take pictures of bags piled up after your cleanup.
When you finish cleaning, all you have to do is notify KMB at 687-7400 with the location of the bags to be picked up, the number of people who cleaned the area and how many hours you cleaned. Please report this to Catarina at KMB so she can get the cash you're owed for your fundraiser right away!
To participate, call Catarina at Keep Midland Beautiful at 687-7400. Taking registrations now!!!
Adopt-A-Spot Program
Keep Midland Beautiful's Adopt-A-Spot program is a great way for your group to be involved in our community. Through participation in this program, your tax dollars are saved and Midland is kept clean and beautiful for our citizens and visitors.
Here's how it works. Organize a group of willing volunteers to clean an area of Midland at least two times each year (most groups do this during KMB's annual cleanups). Pick a public location close to your home, office, or meeting place, or ask KMB to help you pick a spot. A sign with your group name will be placed in your area. Then, designate a "leader," someone who is responsible for announcing cleanup dates, organizing volunteers, and getting the trash bags and gloves (supplied by KMB). Finally, get together to clean your area. You can remove litter and debris, plant trees and flowers, paint, etc.
Call Keep Midland Beautiful at 687.7400 to sign up or for more information.
Info & Links 
Reminder: Recycling Left Outside of Containers can become Litter
