COMMUNITY APPEARANCE INDEX

The Community Appearance Index is an annual roadside litter audit. The results provide metrics that help determine the impact of litter on the quality of life in the community. They also help set goals and develop effective community improvement education programs and projects.

Why do we audit litter?

From Keep America Beautiful: Litter is more than just a mark on our landscape. Litter is costly to clean up, impacts our quality of life and economic development, and eventually ends up in our waterways and oceans. […] Litter cleanup costs more than $11.5 billion each year. The indirect costs of litter are also considerable. For example, litter in a community decreases property values by 7 percent. The Community Appearance Index is a great tool for tracking litter prevention and education. The scores change over time and between locations, allowing KCB to map out the problem areas and deploy Adopt-A-Road and other groups to specific spots.

What Does it Mean?  

Keep Roswell Beautiful board members assess the roads annually in June using a 1 to 4 scale, where:

1 – “Minimal or No Litter”

• 1 or 2 small items visible in a city block or equivalent.
• Generally tidy appearance.

2 – “Slightly Littered”

• Littered items do not continually grab the eye.
• The site could be cleaned in a short time.

3 – “Littered”

• Visible litter catches your eye frequently
• Considerable effort to clean

4 – “Extremely Littered”

• Litter first thing noticed
• Strong impression of a lack of concern about litter

Source: KAB

Want to Help Out?  Message us at keeproswellbeautifulbod@gmail.com.  Sign-up to keep a section of Roswell Clean through the Adopt-A-Road Program.