Keep Indianapolis Beautiful receives $10,000 'Think Green' grant from Keep America Beautiful and Waste Management

Indianapolis, January 19, 2011 – Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Inc. (KIB) has received a $10,000 grant from nonprofit Keep America Beautiful, Inc. (KAB) as part of a nationwide effort sponsored by Waste Management, Inc. (WM) to encourage improvements to community environments.

In the competition, KAB challenged nearly 600 local affiliates nationwide to present innovative and ambitious proposals for projects designed to educate and encourage community environmental stewardship. This year, 55 organizations submitted proposals and Keep Indianapolis Beautiful was one of the final 15 chosen to receive a WM Think Green® grant.

The grant will support the creation of a “KIB Club” program (formerly known as Project Green Schools) at the International School of Indiana. KIB was among 55 organizations who submitted proposals in a competition in which KAB affiliates across the nation presented innovative programs to educate and encourage community environmental stewardship.

The grant will be used to provide tools, plant materials, and project management, and allow KIB to engage youth in activities to create an outdoor “classroom” on the school grounds. The classroom will feature a vegetable garden and perennials, large Indiana native trees, water collection system, a shade structure, and planter box benches. With support from Waste Management’s Think Green grant, KIB will expand upon an existing vegetable garden and begin installation of a water retention system for the landscape and gardens at the school.

“We are thrilled to be presented with the ability to provide an interactive and engaging learning environment for the students at the International School,” said David Forsell, president of Keep Indianapolis Beautiful. “The KIB Clubs program seeks to encourage Indianapolis youth to explore and understand challenges in the environment and to learn how to care for and improve their community, this project will exemplify that goal.”

A check presentation ceremony scheduled for Friday, January 21 at 12:00pm (noon) on the campus of the International School (4330 N Michigan Road) will highlight the students and showcase the work that KIB will undertake with this generous grant from Waste Management.

“Waste Management is committed to providing environmental solutions to the communities it serves, and to being a trusted and valued community partner. We are pleased to present this check to KIB and support the KIB Clubs program as it provides an excellent opportunity for Indianapolis youth to learn about how to care and protect the environment,” said Steve Batchelor, Waste Management’s area vice president of Indiana.

“Our affiliates’ work at the grassroots level exemplifies the mission of our national organization by engaging individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their community environments,” said Matthew M. McKenna, Keep America Beautiful president and CEO. “We are proud of Keep Indianapolis Beautiful and look forward to seeing the positive impact the KIB Club has in Indianapolis.”

The wide ranges of winning programs are creative and reflect the diverse interests and needs of the communities involved. These programs encourage recycling and reuse, provide hands-on environmental education, convey the importance of stewardship to the public through a variety of means such as public service announcements, videos and booklets, and enhance neighborhoods through beautification and community greening. Support of these initiatives marks Waste Management’s continuing commitment to local community quality of life and to building awareness about sustainable resources for effective management of waste.

Waste Management partners with KAB on additional programs, which include community beautification grants and as a National Sponsor for Keep America Beautiful’s Great American Cleanup™, the nation’s largest community improvement program. As part of its stewardship of the environment, the Company has set targets for the year 2020, including doubling the energy it generates from waste; tripling the volume of recyclables it processes annually to 24 million tons; expanding to 25,000 acres the natural habitats at its facilities; and increasing its fleet fuel efficiency and emissions reductions by 15 percent.

About Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Inc.
Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Inc. is a private, nonprofit organization uniting people to build community and transform public spaces through aesthetic and environmental improvement. In 2009, KIB engaged nearly 45,000 volunteers on 500 community improvement projects. To learn more, please visit www.kibi.org.

About Waste Management
Waste Management, based in Houston, Texas, is the leading provider of comprehensive environmental and waste management services in North America. Our subsidiaries provide collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery, and disposal services. We are also a leading developer, operator and owner of waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. Our customers include residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers throughout North America. To learn more visit www.wm.com or www.thinkgreen.com.

About International School of Indianapolis
The International School of Indianapolis, now in its 17th year, educates students age 3 through grade 12 in a multicultural environment through an internationally recognized curriculum. As the only school in the Midwest to offer a trilingual program and an International Baccalaureate (IB) program for all students, ISI prides itself on its commitment to a multicultural learning community and to intercultural awareness. For more information, please visit www.isind.org.

About Keep America Beautiful, Inc.
Keep America Beautiful, Inc., established in 1953, is the nation's largest volunteer-based community action and education organization. This national nonprofit forms public-private partnerships and programs that engage individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their community environments. For additional information, visit www.kab.org.

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