On Tuesday, Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) announced the results of the Team BCPS Clean Green 15 Litter Challenge and the distribution of $22,000 in grants awarded to 17 schools.

After two years of cleanup projects, 17 public schools were winners in this program, which resulted in 406 litter clean-ups that collected 3,391 bags of trash around the County, for a total of 57,862 pounds of litter and debris.

According to a County press release:

‘Over the past two years, Clean Green 15 volunteers removed tons of litter from our communities, and 17 of our Baltimore County schools earned thousands of dollars to pay for school-based environmental projects that will have a lasting impact on students for years to come,’ County Executive [Johnny] Olszewski said.

‘The Clean Green 15 litter challenge is a great way for our students to play an active role in fostering a healthy and clean environment, learn tangible ways to reduce our impact on the environment and show the pride we take in beautifying our communities,’ said [Baltimore County Superintendent] Dr. [Darryl L.] Williams.

Through this program, BCPS schools and their community supporters conducted quick 15-minute litter clean-ups and competed from May 2019 through April 2021 to see which school communities could log the most clean-ups. The program is open to any groups, including school-based groups, places of worship, youth groups, civic or community groups, scout troops, sport teams, businesses or other organizations, that wish to help clean up their community. Groups are asked to report their clean-ups online and designate a school to receive credit toward the grant competition.

Read the full press release and access the list of winning schools.