500,000 VOLUNTEERS TAKE PART IN EARTH DAY 2019 CLEANUP

April 25, 2019 (Washington D.C.) – Earth Day Network’s 2019 volunteer cleanup is bringing together partners across all 50 US states, five U.S. territories and Canada to build cleaner communities.  Earth Day Network, National CleanUp Day, Keep America Beautiful and hundreds of local nonprofit and community groups are working together to achieve tangible impact on waste in our environment. Over 500,000 volunteers are participating. Cleanups are taking place throughout the months of April and May in diverse locations, from rural to urban landscapes, waterways, forests and beaches. Groups range from as few as five participants to community-wide cleanups with over 20,000 volunteers. Volunteers can still find opportunities and sign up to make a difference here. The unified campaign includes a mobile registration, digital mapping and data collection on cleanup results. At the same time, a landmark citizen-led cleanup of the iconic River Ganges in India was launched by Earth Day Network on April 13— on Vaisakh, the Hindu New Year for many in India —high in the Himalayan mountains at Devaprayag where two glacier-fed streams meet to form India’s most famous and sacred river. This first phase will evolve over the next 15 months to encompass 100 cities and towns close to the Ganges as it meanders to the famous Sunderbans Delta. The goal of Earth Day Cleanups is to inspire action and achieve tangible impacts on waste in our environment. Improved health, strong investments and positive growth can be achieved once people gain the expectation that their community will be clean. Every person has the right to live in a clean community. Building on best practices and verifiable metrics, 2019 events will then be scaled-up for the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day in 2020 as The Great Global Clean Up with more than 100,000 events in the US, another 100,000 events globally and one billion pieces of trash collected, creating the largest volunteer cleanup in history. Signature clean-ups will take place in 50 low income communities in the US and 50 low income communities globally. “Environmentally conscious citizens have made this campaign a success and are leading the way to the Great Global Cleanup™ next year,” Earth Day Network President Kathleen Rogers said. “This global movement needs everyone, at every level, to take bold action to safeguard our planet.” Earth Day 2019 Cleanup U.S. sponsors include Toyota, Kiehl’s Since 1851, Dos Gardenias, Burton Snowboards, Fetzer and The Sak. About Us Earth Day Network’s mission is to diversify, educate, and activate the environmental movement worldwide. Growing out of the first Earth Day (1970), Earth Day Network works with more than 50,000 partners in 190 countries to build environmental democracy. More than 1 billion people now participate in Earth Day activities each year, making it the largest civic observance in the world. Learn more at earthday.org National CleanUp Day is a call to action. National CleanUp Day is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, dedicated to keeping our nation’s urban, rural, and outdoor public spaces free of litter and trash. For more information, please visit nationalcleanupday.org Keep America Beautiful inspires and educates people to take action every day to improve and beautify their community environment. Established in 1953, Keep America Beautiful strives to End Littering, Improve Recycling and Beautify America’s Communities. Learn more at kab.org.   For more information contact: [email protected] • 202.355.8875   National CleanUp Day • Mike DeCarlo [email protected] • 908.902.8413