CIGARETTE LITTER PREVENTION AND RECYCLING PROGRAM
The Cigarette Litter Prevention and Recycling Program (CLPR), created by Keep America Beautiful® in 2002, is the nation’s largest program aimed at eliminating cigarette litter.
ABOUT THE CLPR PROGRAM
In the 2020 Keep America Beautiful National Litter Study, 9 out of 10 littered items counted were 4″ and less, with cigarette butts being the number one littered item in this category, accounting for 9.7 billion butts counted on any given day in the United States.
The Cigarette Litter Prevention and Recycling Program is the nation’s largest program aimed at reducing cigarette litter. Communities implementing the program reduce cigarette litter by half based on local measurements taken in the first four to six months after the program is implemented. Since its inception, the program has been implemented in more than 1,800 U.S. communities.
FACT: Cigarette butts account for 88% of litter 4″ or smaller
TERRACYCLE PARTNERSHIP
Cigarette filters don’t break down naturally and will persist in our environment when littered. Removing this litter from our communities through organized cleanups is just the beginning of keeping cigarette butts out of our parks and waterways. After hosting a cleanup, collecting them at home, or with a cigarette receptacle, separate cigarettes from other trash and send them to TerraCycle to be recycled using a FREE shipping label available HERE. As an added bonus, $1.00 is donated to the Cigarette Litter Prevention and Recycling Program for every pound of cigarette waste collected.
Take Action Now
Affiliate Network
Individual Action Center
Partners for Change
HOW DOES CLPR WORK?
An effective local Cigarette Litter Prevention and Recycling Program includes four proven, field-tested solutions or strategies for reducing cigarette butt litter.
- Review local litter laws, including cigarette butt litter, and support enforcement
- Raise awareness about the issue of proper cigarette butt disposal using messaging and marketing campaigns
- Place ash receptacles at transition points to non-smoking areas like beaches, hospitals, or public parks; and
- Distribute pocket or portable ashtrays to adult smokers
Each year Keep America Beautiful awards grants to our affiliates and other nonprofit organizations doing the on-the-ground work of cleaning up cigarette butt litter in their communities.
Inside the effort to reduce cigarette litter
First-of-its-kind: Dollywood becomes first theme park to recycle plastic from every cigarette butt collected in receptacles on property
Last year, Dollywood partnered with the river cleanup nonprofit, Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful (KTNRB), on a massive cigarette litter prevention project, making Dollywood the first theme park in the world to recycle the plastic from every cigarette butt collected in guest-facing receptacles on its property.
Keep America Beautiful Releases Largest Study on Litter in America
National Nonprofit Announces Top-Line Results from Landmark Litter Study STAMFORD, Conn. (April 22, 2021) – Keep America Beautiful®, the nation’s leading community improvement for-impact organization, today released data from its 2020 study on litter in America. The...
Keep America Beautiful Presents 47 Cigarette Litter Prevention Program Grants to Organizations throughout the United States
STAMFORD, Conn. (May 28, 2020) – Keep America Beautiful®, the nation’s largest community improvement nonprofit organization, today announced it has awarded 47 grants to Keep America Beautiful community-based affiliates and partner organizations for its 2020 Cigarette...
Everyone can make a difference in their community.
It starts with you, and with us.
Picking up litter, including cigarette butts, is an active step we can all take to clean, green, and beautify our lives. Let’s take the step together!
Join the movement!
