20 Ways to Celebrate America Recycles Day’s 20th Anniversary

America Recycles Day, which is backed by Keep America Beautiful and aims to educate people about the importance of recycling, is celebrating its 20^th anniversary this year. For the past 20 years, nonprofits, communities, companies and individuals have gathered together to participate in various recycling activities and events throughout the country. And this year, the celebration is bigger than ever.

“America Recycles Day is a call-to-action to motivate individuals to actively pursue a #BeRecycled lifestyle 365 days a year,” said Brenda Pulley, senior vice president of recycling at Keep America Beautiful, in a statement. “America Recycles Day helps to shine a light on our ongoing efforts to educate and inspire people to reduce, reuse and recycle, and when they buy, to buy products made from sustainable and recycled materials.”

For the second year in a row, Keep America Beautiful is encouraging people to take the #BeRecycled pledge to recycle more and waste less. To date, more than 72,000 people have signed the pledge, committing to learning more about recycling, to consistently and correctly recycle and to buy products made from recycled content.

This year, America Recycles Day comes at a time when recycling is more important than ever, with China pushing forward with its crackdown on imported recyclables.

“Recent events make clear that it is critical for American recycling facilities to generate high-quality material; that’s true not only in order to export to China, but also to provide quality feedstock to North American companies,” said David Biderman, executive director and CEO of the Solid Waste Association of North America, in a statement. “Everyone from the waste generator to the collector to the materials recovery facility operator plays an important role in improving material quality. We also need to consider increasing municipal education and communications relating to recycling to help guide American consumers on how to recycle properly.”

While the celebration kicks off today, November 15, many of the America Recycles Day-themed events continue through the end of the month. Here are 20 events taking place across the country in the coming days.