About Keep the Midlands Beautiful

Keep the Midlands Beautiful was established in 1989 by a “Leadership Columbia” class. While touring the Columbia airport, the group of professionals was dismayed by the amount of litter on the roadways and knew that a decrease in litter would increase economic development and tourism.

Keep the Midlands Beautiful is one of over 700 affiliates of Keep America Beautiful in the U.S. and one of 38 affiliates of PalmettoPride in South Carolina. While many affiliates are housed under a government entity, Soil and Water Commission, or Chamber of Commerce and serve one town/city or one county, Keep the Midlands Beautiful is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit and we are the only affiliate in the country that serves two counties.

We serve over 720,000 residents in Lexington and Richland counties which includes 19 towns/cities and Lake Murray, “the Jewel of the South.” We have historically had two employees but have grown in recent years and now have three full-time employees, two part-time university interns and we’re hiring!

We do this in part by providing

We are a small, local, nonprofit making a big difference with your help!

We recruit and coordinate approximately 6,000 volunteers each year and provide them with clean supplies to remove about 200,000 pounds of litter from roadways and waterways in Lexington and Richland counties annually.

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