Keep Carter County Beautiful is continuing to increase their presence in their community, and now even big corporations are starting to take notice.

The organization announced yesterday they are recipients of the Keep America Beautiful Coca-Cola Public Space Recycling Grant.

“We are proud to have come such a long ways,” KCCB Chairman Edward Jordan said.

As part of the grant, the committee will receive 35 recycling bins to put throughout their area to encourage greater recycling in Carter County.

Jordan said they first heard about the grant in early January.

“Ed Basconi found the information, and I said we should do it,” he said.

The application process took some convincing to push through, after some logistical discussions with the city and county.

The county’s recycling program currently pays for the landfill, and he said the city responded saying they do not do recycling.

Now that they have won the grant, he said he hopes to put it to use throughout Elizabethton.

“I would like some set up for the car shows,” Jordan said. “Mike Mains from Parks and Recreation might get involved as well. We would love to see them at a variety of local events.”

The bins themselves are customizable to a degree, and Jordan said they plan to put the new KCCB logo on each of the bins. In addition, he said he is in talks with Kevin Ward, Superintendent of Carter County Schools, to see about students possible creating designs of their own to add to the bins.

“We still have some details to iron out in our next meeting,” Jordan said.

That meeting will take place Wednesday, April 3, at 5:30 p.m. at the County Mayor’s Office. There, he said the board plans to solidify what they want out of the bins as well as where they will end up.

“People who want to donate to us are welcome to, but you need to write the check to the Carter County Treasury and ear-mark it to Keep Carter County Beautiful,” Jordan said.

Above donations, however, he said the department is always looking for physical community support.

“If any group wants to do a clean-up, contact us and let us know how we can help,” Jordan said. “We want to encourage citizen groups, especially churches, to take pride in our community.”