Neighborhoods to vie for clean title

A battle for recognition as the cleanest Cincinnati neighborhood begins today.

Local nonprofit Keep Cincinnati Beautiful Inc. is updating its popular “Don’t Trash the ‘Nati” campaign, first launched in 2004, with a new look and a competition among community councils.

“Litter gets to the ground and into our waterways in one of three ways. It is thrown, blown or dumped. So much of litter is intentional and completely preventable. Our aim with the re-launch of this campaign is to bring together those with a strong opinion advocating against litter. If we can make the voices against litter so loud, people will begin to think twice about contributing to this issue in Cincinnati,” says Jonathan Adee, executive director of Keep Cincinnati Beautiful. “This campaign encourages the community to take action and show pride in their city by taking a stand against littering.”

Drawing bipartisan and local influencer support, “Don’t Trash the ‘Nati” focuses on changing attitudes and behaviors regarding littering. 

With the goal of reducing litter at the source, KCB has enlisted the help of local community councils to compete for the inaugural “Don’t Trash My Neighborhood” competition. For the past year, Keep Cincinnati Beautiful has been working on giving the “Don’t Trash the ‘Nati” campaign a fresh look, which will be unveiled Oct. 26. 

The campaign will be launched by Cincinnati Mayor Aftab, and will culminate in a several month-long city-wide neighborhood contest to include partnerships with community councils across the city and with local area high schools.

In a change from the previous campaign, this phase of the “Don’t Trash the Nati” will take a new approach to reduce litter and waste in the community. The winner of the contest will be selected based on which neighborhood made the biggest improvements over that period of time, which will be judged using the litter index. The prospective neighborhood who makes the biggest change will be recognized at the Keep Cincinnati Beautiful annual “Love Thy ‘Nati” celebration in the spring of 2023.

The original “Don’t Trash the ‘Nati” campaign indicated a significant impact on the community as a whole, showing a 15% reduction in litter in the litter index – a scale for how misplaced trash is monitored. Monitoring and evaluation of the previous campaign demonstrated a positive impact on the community’s knowledge, attitude, and opinion about littering and waste management. Keep Cincinnati Beautiful is looking to top that through this campaign.

“Don’t Trash the ‘Nati” will be supported through paid and social media outreach, as well as community partnerships with local community councils and businesses. Cincy Shirts will be creating a limited-edition “Don’t Trash the ‘Nati” shirt, available in its store and online starting Oct. 26.