Keep Opelika Beautiful believes the best avenue to creating good stewards of the environment is through educational programs. Below are the programs of Keep Opelika Beautiful. 

 

Litter Survey- During this 4-day process, volunteers drive through different parts of the city ranking the amount of litter in a neighborhood, industrial park or shopping mall. The sites are rotated each year to provide a substantial time for improvement. 
 

Clean Campus Program- Lesson plans are taught by liaison teachers in all the Opelika City Schools. The schools also participate in a variety of recycling programs including recycling at sporting events, creating a hummingbird habitat, building an outdoor classroom, constructing a compost pile and collecting white paper for recycling. In April of each year, volunteers judge each campus on cleanliness. Wal-Mart Distribution Center is the sponsor of the program. 

Christmas Tree Recycling- a project of Opelika Tree Commission and Keep Opelika Beautiful. This takes place the Saturday after Christmas at the Opelika Chamber from 8am-12pm. Citizens receive a tree seedling in exchange for the tree.

 

Arbor Day- Arbor Day is usually celebrated the last Saturday of the February. A tree is planted as a demonstration and students receive prizes for the poster contest. The Opelika Tree Commission gives away a variety of tree seedlings.

 

Electronics Recycling- This event has recently been a project of East Alabama Recycling Partnership. The Electronics Recycling event is a day long event that allows residents to bring electronics (almost anything plugged in) to be disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner.

Garden in the Park- This arts & craft style festival is in Opelika Municipal Park (Monday Park) the last Saturday of March. 

 

 Adopt-A-Mile- Participants are: Opelika Kiwanis Club, Opelika Lions Club, Opelika Rotary Club, Opelika Firefighters, Auburn Opelika Elks Lodge, Wal-Mart DC, Afni and OHS FFA. This is a great opportunity for promoting businesses or civic clubs.

 

Citywide Cleanup- Always the first Saturday in March, KOB encourages Adopt-A-Mile participants, scouting troops and residents to cleanup the city. Trash bags are usually received compliments of GLAD. East Alabama Medical Center is great about donating gloves. The Opelika Exchange Club feeds all participants after the event (usually 9am-1pm). 
 

Beautification & Awards Committee- Made up of super volunteers, the B&A Committee scouts the city for the best yards. The program runs March-September each year. We are always recruiting volunteers to help.

 

Business & Industry Committee- The B&I committee has encouraged business to participate in Adopt-A-Mile and awarded Clean Business Awards to local businesses. 

 

Azalea & Dogwood Trail- Keep Opelika Beautiful highlights spring in Opelika with a Trail through the beautiful trees and shrubs. The Trail is usually starts the first week of April.

 

Water Festival- Each May a variety of local businesses and organizations support Water Festival. All 4^th graders in Lee County (city schools & county schools) are brought to AU to learn about water. KOB donates to the event and the Director volunteers.

 

Biennial Breakfast- The Breakfast is a program of the Beautification & Awards Committee. This is a time for us to thank our members (with a no-cost breakfast) and our sponsors with a plaque. We have held this event at various locations throughout the years.

 

Telephone Book Recycling- Keep Opelika Beautiful partners with AT&T, Opelika City Schools and City of Opelika Solid Waste Department to collect out of date or unused telephone books. Local students are asked to bring books to their homeroom or citizens may drop the books at a school. AT&T provides a monetary prize to the top three schools. Books are usually collected November through December.