Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful (KPB) will continue its partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to implement the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program (CLPP) at rest stops across the state with a $20,000 grant from Keep America Beautiful. Awardees agree to encourage the enforcement of litter laws, which includes cigarette litter, and include an education component about the consequences of cigarette and other tobacco-related litter.

The CLPP begins with a scan, or physical count, of cigarette butts and other tobacco-related products in a designated area. Ash receptacles are then installed at transition points of entry, like entrances to public buildings. Two additional scans are performed, one midway through the year and a final count at the end of the program. The effectiveness of the program is measured by comparing a pre- and post-program count of cigarette butts and other tobacco products.

The grant award includes funding for portable ashtrays, or pocket ashtrays, to distribute to residents. KPB hopes to raise travelers' awareness about the issue of proper cigarette butt disposal with messaging and marketing campaigns and by placing ash receptacles at entrances to rest stop buildings.

KPB has a partnership with TerraCycle to expand the program to include recycling and composting the cigarette butt waste. Cigarettes collected through CLPP are shipped to TerraCycle, where the various materials that make up a cigarette are separated and processed. The filters are melted into hard plastic that can be remolded to make recycled industrial products, such as plastic pallets. The residual tobacco and paper are separated out and composted in a specialized process.

Cigarette butts that are thrown on the ground can contaminate soil and ground water with chemicals and heavy metals, and they can fatally affect birds, animals and marine life, which often mistake them for food. Additionally, the filters, made of cellulose acetate, never fully disappear from the environment.

To find out more about the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program, visit http://www.keeppabeautiful.org and choose Programs, then Cigarette Litter Prevention or contact Michelle Dunn at mdunn@keeppabeautiful.org.