Keep Louisiana Beautiful partners with DOTD for Love the Boot Week to pick up litter, recycle, and divert waste from the landfill

During Love the Boot Week, April 5-13, 2025, Keep Louisiana Beautiful will partner with the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) to expand the annual event through increased litter pick up, recycling, and landfill diversion.

“We thank DOTD for their efforts to support a cleaner Louisiana during Love the Boot Week and throughout the year,” said Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser. “I encourage Love the Boot event organizers to drop off the recycling from their litter cleanups. Let’s work together to keep bottles and cans out of the landfill.”

“Each year, DOTD spends upward of $13 million on litter removal,” said DOTD Secretary Joe Donahue. “The key to the future of a beautiful Louisiana is for people to be aware of their litter. Events such as this Love the Boot event are a great reminder for people to recycle, to dispose of waste properly, and to keep litter in its place.”

Twenty-one regional DOTD offices, listed at LoveTheBoot.org, will serve as drop-off sites for number one plastic bottles and aluminum cans picked up and separated from litter removed at Love the Boot events. Coca-Cola will support the Osprey Initiative in picking up recycling at the DOTD sites. Love the Boot recycling is available in 27 parishes. This is a significant expansion from the 2024 recycling effort, which was successful in collecting 13,891 aluminum cans and plastic bottles at 62 sites in 15 parishes.

The parishes where Love the Boot Week recycling is available include Acadia, Ascension, Bossier, Caddo, Calcasieu, DeSoto, East Baton Rouge, Evangeline, Grant, Iberia, Jefferson, Lafayette, Livingston, Orleans, Ouachita, Plaquemines, Rapides, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. James, St. John, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, and Vermilion.

All DOTD regional offices will participate in Love the Boot Week by picking up litter daily. During last year’s Love the Boot Week, DOTD removed 152,475 lbs. at more than 10 cleanup sites across the state. This effort earned DOTD the Outstanding State Agency Award from KLB and the Lt. Governor.

Love the Boot Week is Louisiana’s largest litter removal and beautification effort held during Earth Month, with events organized by businesses, non-profits, schools, governments, and families in all 64 parishes. When registering for Love the Boot Week at LoveTheBoot.org, events in eligible parishes can sign up for recycling.

Last year during Love the Boot Week, 19,441 individuals volunteered a total of 100,712 hours at 760 events in all 64 parishes, leading to the removal of 347 tons of litter, 623 lbs. of which was recycled. In addition to litter removal, volunteers focused on community beautification, planting 921 trees and 4,408 plants, and refurbishing 366 gardens.

Everyone in every parish is invited to register for a cleanup or beautification event and/or sign up to volunteer for Love the Boot Week at LoveTheBoot.org.