Keep America Beautiful Announces 50 Organizations Receive 2019 Cigarette Litter Prevention Program Grants

STAMFORD, Conn., May 9, 2019 /3BL Media/ – Keep America Beautiful^®, the nation’s leading community improvement nonprofit organization, today announced it has awarded 50 grants to Keep America Beautiful community-based affiliates and partner organizations for its 2019 Cigarette Litter Prevention Program^® (CLPP), designed to help communities combat the most commonly littered item in America.  

Keep America Beautiful is providing individual merit-based grants, totaling more than $300,000, in amounts of $10,000, $5,000 and $2,500 to 50 organizations throughout the country.

Keep America Beautiful affiliates, local governments, business improvement districts, downtown associations, parks and recreation areas, and other organizations dedicated to ending litter and beautifying communities are receiving grants. Since the establishment of the national initiative, communities in 49 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Canada have implemented the CLPP. Throughout its history, the program has helped reduce cigarette litter in the communities in which it has been implemented by an average of 50 percent.

Communities implementing the CLPP in 2018 reported an average 62 percent reduction of cigarette litter, even greater than the previous year’s average reduction of 52 percent. Cigarette Litter Prevention Program grant funding empowers communities to help mitigate the economic, environmental and quality-of-life impact of cigarette butt littering.

“Litter is both the smallest and largest problem at the same time,” said Jerred Jones, program director for the CLPP. “Keep America Beautiful believes that many of our social ills begin with litter. Access to ash receptacles and portable pocket ashtrays are crucial to changing littering behaviors.”

The CLPP, created by Keep America Beautiful in 2002, is the nation's largest program aimed at eliminating cigarette butt and cigar tip litter. Since its inception, the program has been successfully implemented in more than 1,800 urban, suburban and rural communities nationwide. Over the past decade, participating communities have consistently cut cigarette butt litter by 50 percent based on local measurements taken in the first four months to six months after program implementation.

Research has shown that even self-reported “non-litterers” often don’t consider tossing cigarette butts on the ground to be "littering."  Keep America Beautiful has found that cigarette butt litter occurs most often at transition points—areas where a person must stop smoking before proceeding into another area.  These include bus stops, entrances to stores and public buildings, and the sidewalk areas outside of bars and restaurants, among others.  

The Cigarette Litter Prevention Program is supported by funding from Altria, Reynolds American, and the Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company.

About Keep America Beautiful
Keep America Beautiful, the nation’s leading community improvement nonprofit organization, inspires and educates people to take action every day to improve and beautify their community environment. Established in 1953, Keep America Beautiful strives to End Littering, Improve Recycling and Beautify America’s Communities. We believe everyone has a right to live in a clean, green and beautiful community, and shares a responsibility to contribute to that vision.

Behavior change – steeped in education, research and behavioral science – is the cornerstone of Keep America Beautiful. We empower generations of community and environmental stewards with volunteer programs, hands-on experiences, educational curricula, practical advice and other resources. The organization is driven by the work and passion of more than 600 Keep America Beautiful affiliates, millions of volunteers, and the collaborative support of corporate partners, social and civic service organizations, academia, municipalities, elected officials, and individuals. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Donate and take action at kab.org.

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2019 Cigarette Litter Prevention Program Grant Recipients

Capitol Hill Business Improvement District
City of Coffeyville KS/Coffeyville's Reawakening
City of Espanola
City of Hallandale Beach
City of Shamokin
EcoSuperior Environmental Programs
I Love A Clean San Diego
Keep Alabama Beautiful
Keep America Beautiful-Topeka/Shawnee County
Keep Bartlett Beautiful
Keep Blanco Beautiful
Keep Canton Beautiful
Keep Chester County Beautiful
Keep Copiah County Beautiful
Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful
Keep Darke County Beautiful
Keep Denton Beautiful
Keep Douglas County Beautiful
Keep Dublin-Laurens Beautiful, Inc.
Keep Durham Beautiful
Keep Golden Isles Beautiful
Keep Indian River Beautiful, Inc.
Keep Katy Beautiful
Keep Keith County Beautiful
Keep Lexington Beautiful
Keep Lorain County Beautiful
Keep Midlothian Beautiful – Illinois
Keep New Hanover Beautiful
Keep New Mexico Clean & Beautiful
Keep North Miami Beautiful
Keep Ohio Beautiful
Keep Paris/Henry County Beautiful
Keep Panama City Beach Beautiful
Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful
Keep Pinellas Beautiful
Keep Port St. Lucie Beautiful
Keep Prince William Beautiful
Keep Rabun Beautiful
Keep South Carolina Beautiful
Keep the Bluegrass Beautiful
Keep Tennessee Beautiful
Keep Van Buren Beautiful
Keep Virginia Beautiful, Inc.
Maryland Coastal Bays Program
Minneapolis Downtown Improvement District
Mulberry River Society
Oklahoma City Beautiful
Town of Danvers
Town of Norwood
Transition Prince Rupert