Keeping America beautiful ... one butt at a time

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September 2, 2010

JAMICÁ C. ASHLEY Staff Writer The Daily Southerner Thu Sep 02, 2010, 10:51 AM EDT

TARBORO — Less cigarette butts litter the ground in Edgecombe and Nash counties.

The results are in for the Keep America Beautiful of Nash and Edgecombe Counties Cigarette Litter Prevention Program and for its inaugural year, the program reports a 28 percent decrease in cigarette butt litter throughout Indian Lake Sports Complex and Braswell Park.

"The program allows us the opportunity to make drastic improvements in our effort to curb litter," said KAB Coordinator Cornelia McGee-Anthony. "Simple actions like installing ash receptacles and distributing pocket ashtrays have made a big difference in decreasing Twin Counties' litter and ultimately keeping our community beautiful."

McGee-Anthony said that cigarette butts are the most-littered item in America, representing nearly 30 percent of all documented nationwide clean-up efforts.

The reduction in litter at Braswell and Indian Lake is the direct result of a strategic effort to curb cigarette butt litter.

The Cigarette Litter Prevention Task Force conducted a count of littered cigarette butts in May of this year and found 690 butts in Braswell Park and 217 in Indian Lake.

After assessing the problem, a launch of the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program began with educating the public, distribution of free pocket ashtrays and the installation of ash receptacles at the Indian Lake Sports Complex and Braswell Park.

The education piece included informing the public that cigarette butts are considered litter while the ash receptacles were installed at transition points at the two sites where people have to stop smoking before proceeding.

The transition points include picnic areas, parking lots, scenic overlooks, walkways and ballparks.

After these efforts were made, another count of cigarette butts indicated that there were only 522 butts in Braswell Park and 134 in the Indian Lake Sports Complex.

"While there is still work to be done, I'm proud to say we have seen significant reductions in cigarette litter throughout Braswell Park and Indian Lake Sports Complex," said McGee-Anthony.

The KAB Cigarette Litter Prevention tackles the cigarette litter problem by integrating four proven approaches - encouraging the enforcement of litter laws, raising awareness about the issue, placing ash receptacles at transition points and distributing pocket ashtrays to adult smokers.

Local stakeholders include City of Rocky Mount Parks & Recreation, Town of Nashville Parks & Recreation, Town of Tarboro Parks & Recreation and other community organizations.

Keep America Beautiful Inc., established in 1953, is the nationís largest volunteer-based community action and education organization. With a network of nearly 1,000 affiliate and participating organizations, Keep America Beautiful forms public-private partnerships and programs that engage individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their community environments.

Information about starting and maintaining a Cigarette Litter Prevention program can be found in the online "Guide to Cigarette Litter Prevention" at www.preventcigarettelitter.org.

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