17 Schools Win the Team BCPS Clean Green 15 Litter Challenge

Thousands of student and community volunteers have made Baltimore County a cleaner and greener place by participating in the Team BCPS Clean Green 15 Litter Challenge.

County Executive Johnny Olszewski, Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) Superintendent Dr. Darryl L. Williams and Debbie Phelps, Executive Director of The Education Foundation of Baltimore County Public Schools, announced this morning that 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.

“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 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 Dr. Williams.

Clean Green 15 Results: Tons of Litter Collected, $22,000 Distributed to Schools!

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.

Team BCPS Clean Green 15 Litter Challenge
Winning Schools for Combined School Years 2019-2020 and 2020-2021

Combining cleanup reports from the past two years, The Education Foundation of Baltimore County Public Schools awarded grants to 11 top winning schools to fund school-based instructional projects emphasizing the theme of environmental literacy. Examples could include installing a reading garden or rain garden, planting trees, diverting downspouts and environmental education projects. Six schools won Honorable Mention awards and received funds to purchase STEM supplies and equipment.

The list of winning schools is below.

Clean Green 15 is Underway for Next Year

In addition to awarding prizes to the winning schools from this year, officials also promoted participation in Team BCPS Clean Green 15 Litter Challenge for this school year, with groups eligible to log clean-ups from May 1, 2021, through April 30, 2022, for consideration in next year’s awards.

Clean Green Collaboration

This is the ninth year for the challenge, which is a collaboration of the Baltimore County Department of Environmental Protection and Sustainability, Baltimore County Public Schools, and The Education Foundation of Baltimore County Public Schools.

Winning Schools – Combined School Years 2019-2020 and 2020-2021: