DATE: August 21, 2006

CONTACT: Gary Gaulin, (864) 656-5445
camden@clemson.edu

WRITER: Angela Nixon, (864) 656-0382
angela.nixon@clemsonews.clemson.edu

Solid Green: Keep Clemson Clean –- Clemson kicks off anti-litter campaign

CLEMSON — Clemson University President James Barker and Clemson Mayor Larry Abernathy will sign a proclamation at today’s Welcome Back Festival declaring that Clemson will be a litter-free campus and community. The proclamation will officially kick off the “Solid Green: Keep Clemson Clean” anti-litter campaign.

“This campaign is about making a good Clemson great,” said Gary Gaulin, associate director of residential facilities and chairman of the Solid Green committee. “Litter is not an overwhelming problem on our campus, thanks to our hardworking custodial and ground staff, but we would like to see litter reduced and eventually eliminated in our community.”

With support from PalmettoPride, South Carolina’s anti-litter organization, Solid Green will be the first anti-litter campaign of its type at a college or university in the state.

“This is a great opportunity to strengthen our education tract at PalmettoPride,” said Sarah Robinson, community outreach coordinator for PalmettoPride. “It’s inspiring to see great programs for elementary-age through college-age students establish a respect for our environment.”

Solid Green will be primarily an educational campaign, aimed at encouraging people to take personal responsibilities for their actions and to take pride in their campus and community.

“We urge people to be active in litter prevention,” Gaulin said. “Not only do we want people to throw their own trash away, but also to stop and pick up litter if they see it.”

One component of Solid Green will specifically target cigarette butt litter, which Gaulin says is an increasing problem. Cigarette butt litter prompted Lucy Hoffman, a senior history major from Greenville, to get involved with Solid Green.

“When I first started at Clemson, I noticed when I’d walk into buildings there would be piles of cigarette butts outside the entrances,” she said. “It seemed like cigarette butts were everywhere.”

Hoffman will help plan Solid Green’s campaign against cigarette butt litter, and hopes to help people understand that cigarette butts are litter, too.

“Most smokers – most people, in fact – don’t consider cigarette butts to be litter. One of the key elements of the campaign is to make people aware of this fact,” Hoffman said.

Solid Green is not limited to the university campus. The city of Clemson is also partnering in the campaign to keep Clemson clean.

“Clemson is such a beautiful part of the state. It’s an ideal place to promote an anti-litter campaign,” said Robinson.