BATON ROUGE – Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser and Keep Louisiana Beautiful launched the largest litter removal effort in Louisiana, "Love the Boot Week," on Friday. More than 650 cleanup and beautification events are planned in all 64 parishes over the next week.

Nungesser said more than 700 groups are participating in this years clean up event. Many of those groups don't stop after "Love the Boot Week" is over; they continue to beautify the state on a yearly basis.

After the conference, volunteers met at the former Louisiana Municipal Association Building to begin cleanup. Mackenzie Scrogg, Miss Louisiana 2023, was among the volunteers.

She's partnered with Blue Cross Blue Shield and said she has traveled over 23,000 miles across the state, seeing places she'd never experienced before.

"If you keep your home beautiful then your home is going to appreciate you and keep you beautiful," Scrogg said. "So if we appreciate Louisiana and give back to our community and our state, our state and community is going to give back to us."

Nungesser said you're 80 percent less likely to litter if you clean up just one day; you're also less likely to litter if you receive a ticket for littering, he said.

"So you can go to your local library with your family, if you want to get a little exercise, check out those tongs and vest, we'll give you bags," Nungesser said. "If you can't do it during 'Love the Boot Week,' pick a Saturday during the month, go out and pick up trash."

He also said that the citizenry deserve a clean Louisiana, and it's something everyone can work towards.