Let’s keep Franklin County beautiful
Hey everybody, there’s a new nonprofit in town! Keep Franklin County Beautiful (KFCB) is gearing up. In a few months, we’ll be an official Keep America Beautiful (KAB) affiliate – one of more than 650 affiliates across the county, and one of more than 40 affiliates in Florida. The three common goals are to end littering, improve recycling, and beautify communities. To make a dent in these goals, KFCB will be working with our county and city officials, other nonprofit and volunteer groups, businesses, youth groups, and community members. We’ll have the support of KAB, Keep Florida Beautiful, and our Keep Wakulla County Beautiful neighbors. Our funding will come through grants and donations.
As part of the affiliation process, KFCB board members just completed a litter survey of randomly selected locations in Franklin County. The survey method, developed by KAB, is used annually by all affiliates in the U.S. The results provide a snapshot of the scale and type of litter in Franklin County and across our country. The information is used to determine both the organization’s impact and areas that need improvement.
On a scale of “one” to “four,” with “one” being minimal to no litter and “four” being extremely littered, the Franklin County areas surveyed covered the scale. Many parks and city centers scored “one,” but some neighborhoods and sections of Highway 98 and county roads fell into category “four.” We are planning another assessment during the busy tourist season. The results will serve as a baseline for our litter improvement goals.
Currently, a small “Yes We CAN!” aluminum can recycling initiative is underway. There’s an aluminum can collection effort at the Apalachicola Farmers Market. Several businesses in Apalachicola are recycling their customers’ aluminum cans for KFCB. And you may have seen a few of our aluminum can recycling boxes at area festivals. We hope to expand this effort to businesses and events in Eastpoint, St. George Island, Carabelle, Alligator Point and other locations. We’re hoping to tackle glass recycling next!
The KFCB board members are Thomas Becknell, Megan Christopher, Scott Davis, Anthony Del Campo, Sophia Fonseca, Joshua Hall, Pauline Watts, and Lynn Wilder. All proud environmentalists bursting with ideas, the team ranges in skills from biologists, environmental writers, community champions, and lovers of Franklin County. Like many others, they see the existing beauty and splendor of our county, but also recognize where further improvements can be made.
Several businesses and entities eagerly await KFCB’s affiliation, which is projected to occur before summer begins. Anyone interested in getting more information, updates, or volunteering, please email yesfccan@gmail.com.
So far, most efforts have been centralized around Apalachicola, so the group is especially interested in reaching members of the community from Eastpoint to the eastern edge of the county.
Sophia Fonseca
Lynn Wilder
Apalachicola
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.