Keep Irving Beautiful board and staff members Margie Stipes, Rachel Torrez-Moon, Julie Schmitt and Rick Hose recently completed the annual city-wide Community Appearance Index Survey.  Each October, a group of four scorers drives the exact same nine routes in the city, which have been divided into four areas.  The areas are scored on a 1 to 4 scale based on how much litter is seen, with 1 being very clean, and 4 being extremely littered. The averages are then calculated and compared to the baseline data from the initial survey in 2001. This year’s results showed that litter has decreased by 30% over the past thirteen years. 

  “The final numbers back up the initial visual impression that we had when we were doing the survey, which is that overall litter has definitely decreased,” said board member Margie Stipes.  “We’d like to think that KIB’s tradition of partnering with our residents and various City of Irving departments is paying off with a cleaner, less littered community.  The City’s Litter Team and Litter Hotline Program have greatly contributed to improving our community’s appearance.  KIB-sponsored programs that focus on litter abatement, such as our Adopt-a-Spot program,  gets families, schools, businesses, youth and faith groups involved in keeping areas clean and beautiful, and our land and waterway cleanups raise awareness of how important it is to put trash in its proper place and recycle what we can.”

  Keep Irving Beautiful is a non-profit, grassroots, leadership organization dedicated to educating our community about litter abatement, recycling, and beautification in order to help preserve the health and promote the social and economic prosperity of our city. As an award winning affiliate of Keep America Beautiful and Keep Texas Beautiful, Keep Irving Beautiful reaches out to and partners with all sectors of our city including government, business, church, cultural, educational, neighborhood and civic organizations.  For more information, please go to the KIB website, www.keepirvingbeautiful.org, or call the KIB office at 972-721-2175.