Cigarette Litter Program

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Cigarette Litter Prevention
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About Cigarette Litter

• Dropping partially-smoked cigarettes, cigarette
  
• butts, matches, lighters, and packaging to the
  
• ground is littering.
• According to the annual International Coastal
• Cleanup statistics, cigarette butts were the
  most
• littered itemrepresenting over 34 of the
  items
• collected.
• Individuals who would never litter beverage
  cans
• or paper packaging typically do not consider
• tossing cigarette butts littering.

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Cigarette Litter and the Environment

• About 95 of cigarette filters are
• composed of cellulose acetate, a form of
• plastic which does not biodegrade quickly
• and can persist in the environment.
• About 18 of litter, traveling primarily
• through storm water systems, ends up in
• local streams, rivers, and waterways.

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Cigarette Littering Behavior

• Only 10 of cigarette butts are deposited in
  litter
• receptaclesthe least likely item to be placed
  in a
• receptacle.
• Most cigarette littering occurs in and around
• transition points. These are areas where a
  smoker
• must extinguish a cigarette before entering.
• Many smokers who do not properly dispose of
  their
• butts, lighting material, and packaging do not
  consider
• their behavior littering.
• Some smokers believe they are acting
  responsibly by
• dropping cigarettes on the ground and stepping
  on them to extinguish them.
• Some smokers think dropping butts into gutters
  or storm drains is a safe way
• to extinguish a cigarette.

This picture shows a community transition
point, a place where a smoker must stop smoking
before proceeding.
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The Keep America Beautiful Cigarette Litter
Prevention Program

• Program Goal
• To effectively and noticeably reduce
  cigarette litter.
• Program Strategies
• Enforce anti-litter laws.
• Install ash receptacles at transition points.
• Encourage the use of pocket ashtrays.
• Build public awareness of the problem and the
• solutions with public service ads, referred to
  as PSAs.

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Program Field-Testing

• Two years of field-testing by Keep America
  Beautiful affiliates in over a dozen U.S. cities
  showed cigarette litter can be reduced as much as
  46 by implementing a multi-dimensional approach
  to cigarette litter
• Cigarette Litter Scans to measure current
  conditions
• and program impact.
• Public Service Messages in local media.
• Strategic placement of Ash Receptacles at
  neighborhood
• transition points.
• Distribution of FREE Pocket Ashtrays.

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Program Components
Ash Receptacles
Pocket Ashtray
Public Service Ads
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Prevention Campaign Timeline for Local Program
in Pilot Neighborhood

• First Three Months
• Assess local cigarette litter problem
• Review local litter laws
• Choose pilot neighborhood and conduct survey
• Identify pilot neighborhood transition points
• Establish a Cigarette Litter Prevention Team
• Set the program budget
• Identify sources of funding and in-kind
  contributions
• Implement Prevention Strategies
• Choose and order ash receptacles
• Order pocket ashtrays
• Customize media materials for local market

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Prevention Campaign Timeline for Local Program
in Pilot Neighborhood

• Next Three Months
• Launch the Prevention Campaign
• Install ash receptacles
• Distribute pocket ashtrays
• Place public service messages
• Start media outreach
• Evaluate Results
• Conduct follow-up survey
• Assess program impact
• Plan for sustainability
• Beyond Month Six
• Strategize community-wide roll out of prevention
  campaign

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About Keep America Beautiful

• Established in 1953 the nations largest
  volunteer-based community improvement
  organization.
• Mission
• To engage individuals to take greater
  responsibility for
• improving their community environments.
• Guiding Principles
• Education
• Individual Responsibility
• Public-Private Partnerships
• Volunteer Action
• National Community Improvement Focus Areas
• Litter Prevention
• Waste Reduction
• Beautification

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Keep America Beautiful, Inc. engaging
individuals to take greater responsibility for
improving their community environments.