Keep Greenville County Beautiful and the City of Greer
kick off a new cigarette litter prevention program

Keep Greenville County Beautiful (KGCB) and the City of Greer will take part this year in a national program to reduce the impact of cigarette butt litter, the Keep America Beautiful^® Cigarette Litter Prevention Program. Keep Greenville County Beautiful will partner with the City of Greer to target cigarette butt litter throughout the downtown area through 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 have been increasingly seeking solutions to the litter issue.

The Keep America Beautiful Cigarette Litter Prevention Program addresses the issue by integrating four proven approaches: encouraging enforcement of litter laws that include cigarette litter; raising awareness about the issue using public service messages; placing ash receptacles at transition points such as entrances to public buildings; and distributing pocket ashtrays to adult smokers. In 2008, nearly 200 communities reported an average 46% reduction in littered butts as a result of implementing the program.

“We hope to make a difference in the Greer community by decreasing cigarette butt litter, which will ultimately keep our community more beautiful. By educating the public and providing simple alternatives like ash receptacles and pocket ashtrays, we can really make a difference,” said KGCB Project Chair Albert Futrell. “Our team is ready to see a success in litter reduction.”

Keep Greenville County Beautiful will conduct a cigarette litter survey near the Historic Greer Station in downtown Greer, a popular and busy area that includes many “transition points” – places where people may stop smoking before entering places such as restaurants, office buildings and public facilities. A team of community leaders who are passionate about the community’s cleanliness and beauty have volunteered to conduct the research. The stakeholders for the project include the City of Greer, the Greer Station Association, Greenville County, Greenville County Clemson Extension, and several partnering nonprofit organizations.

Cigarette butts are the most-littered item in America, representing nearly 30 percent of all items documented in nationwide clean-up initiatives.

National nonprofit Keep America Beautiful has field-tested and expanded the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program for the last six years with support from Philip Morris USA, an Altria company.

Information about starting and maintaining a Cigarette Litter Prevention program can be found in the online “Guide to Cigarette Litter Prevention.” The Guide can be accessed through Keep America Beautiful’s website www.kab.org or directly at www.preventcigarettelitter.org.