VISION

A community recognizes and values a clean city.

MISSION

Inspire residents, students, and business owners to take clean up the neighborhoods where they live, work, and play.

VALUES

KDC values a clean Duluth, free of litter and abandoned waste. To this end, KDC will coordinate and support efforts that engage the community in cleanup activities that target litter and illegal dumping. KDC is committed to expanding the resources that help people properly dispose of collected litter and abandoned waste.

KDC values water. Duluth’s position on Lake Superior – as well as the multitude of watersheds that feed into the lake – inspires KDC to prioritize keeping waterways clean and free of the harmful litter that impacts our ecosystem.  KDC is committed to supporting initiatives and developing programming that works to keep our great lake, streams, and watersheds clean, especially those that target the negative impact of pet waste.

KDC values partnership. Keeping Duluth clean can only be accomplished when the community invests together in the goal of “doing the right thing” with their trash. KDC is committed to promoting and providing education and outreach that increases the community’s knowledge on how to properly dispose of waste. KDC will also advocate for policy change and increased infrastructure to support the reduction of littering and illegal dumping.

How it all began…

Keep Duluth Clean (KDC) is the result of an idea first hatched by Greg Benson, CEO of Loll Designs. For years, Loll Designs partnered with Involta, Bent Paddle, and other Duluth-based companies on springtime stream cleanups and tree planting efforts deemed, “Clean Yer Creek.” Benson thought it would be great if this same effort was expanded city-wide. His vision had individuals across Duluth all going outside on a specific day and picking up trash wherever they lived, worked, or played. He imagined hundreds of people – families, co-workers, individuals – helping to keep Duluth free of litter.  His simple, but the impactful idea of picking up trash in our own backyard and neighborhoods spurred the larger Keep Duluth Clean initiative.

From there, Benson brought together staff from the City of Duluth, Loll Designs, Involta, and Flint Group to collaborate and brainstorm bringing Keep Duluth Clean to fruition. Others quickly joined on and offered their expertise and passion for Duluth’s beautification; including The Duluth Experience, The Minnesota Power Foundation, and several interns and volunteers. Flint Group helped build the Keep Duluth Clean identity by creating a logo and graphic standards. However, efforts to launch Keep Duluth Clean in the spring of 2020 including multiple cleanups and educational events got sidelined by the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite those setbacks, the City of Duluth stepped in and still managed to organize a socially distant spring and fall cleanup with households going out on their own to collect garbage and share their results with the city and social media. In mid-2020, the City of Duluth was awarded an MPCA GreenCorps member, and Kaleb Montgomery, who was tasked with implementing the KDC initiative, established the KDC committee and formalized the program with a sustainable and lasting structure to continue energizing the Duluth community around cleanups.