New Program to Keep Butts Out of Downtown

Keep Douglasville Beautiful will take part in a national program to reduce the impact of cigarette butt litter, the Keep America Beautiful Cigarette Litter Prevention Program. In its first year, Keep Douglasville Beautiful will target cigarette butt litter throughout the historic area with a concentrated and sustained effort.

The program’s strategic approach involves all stakeholders in the cigarette litter problem, including businesses, law enforcement, local governments, community organizations and, importantly, smokers themselves. Mayors and community leaders nationwide are increasingly seeking solutions to the litter issue.

The Keep America Beautiful Cigarette Litter Prevention Program tackles the issue by integrating four proven approaches:

• encouraging enforcement of litter laws, including cigarette litter;
• raising awareness about the issue using public service messages;
• placing ash receptacles at transition points such as near entrances to public buildings; and
• distributing pocket ashtrays to adult smokers.

In 2011, there were 252 grant-supported implementations across the country including downtowns, roadways, beaches, parks, marinas, colleges/universities, tourist spots, and at special events. The communities reported an average 54 percent reduction in littered butts as a result of implementing the program.

“The cigarette litter prevention program has proven effective. Simple actions like installing ash receptacles -- eight of which we have recently placed in the historic downtown/plaza area, and distributing pocket ashtrays have made a big difference in decreasing litter and ultimately keeping communities beautiful,” said Executive Director, Chan Weeks. “Using this program to bring attention to the issue, we expect similar reductions in Douglasville.”

Tobacco products, including cigarette butts, are the most-littered item in America, representing nearly 38 percent of all items, according to “Litter in America,” the Keep America Beautiful landmark 2009 study of litter and littering behavior. This research also showed that individuals who would never litter items such as beverage cans or paper packaging may not consider tossing cigarette butts on the ground “littering”.

National nonprofit Keep America Beautiful has field-tested and expanded the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program since 2003, funded by Philip Morris USA, an Altria company, and with additional support from RAI Services Company. Information about starting and maintaining a community Cigarette Litter Prevention Program is available online. The “Guide to Cigarette Litter Prevention” can be accessed through the Keep America Beautiful Web site www.kab.org or directly at www.preventcigarettelitter.org.