Keep Mandeville Beautiful- Cigarette Butt Anti-Litter Campaign
NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Susan Russell -502-0280
RELEASE IMMEDIATELY
“Keep Your Butt in your Pants”
(6/22/10 Mandeville, LA.) - Keep Mandeville Beautiful (KMB) is kicking off “Keep Your Butt in your Pants” a cigarette butt litter campaign to encourage smokers to dispose of their butts responsibly.
First issued in 2008, KMB is conducting a second round of distributing pocket ashtrays in an attempt to reduce the amount of cigarette butt litter. The campaign is a joint effort between Keep Mandeville Beautiful and local businesses who have agreed to help distribute the ashtrays to smokers.
Eleven local stores are distributing free pocket ashtrays to reduce the amount of cigarette butt litter in Mandeville. Pocket ashtrays are small, portable ashtrays that smokers can carry on their person to extinguish and dispose of their cigarette butts when there is no ashtray available. The business partners will also be displaying a “Keep Your Butt in your Pants” poster. When smokers purchase cigarettes from the store they can ask the clerk for a free ashtray or the clerk will offer one to them. KMB is supplying the stores with the pocket ashtrays free of cost. Pocket ashtrays can be picked up at the following locations in Mandeville; Blue Harbor, Town Crier (both locations), Texaco (Girod St.), Bargain Stop Fuels, Chevron and North Lake Spur (Hwy. 22), Shell (East Causeway), Jemworks, Rusty’s Tobacco Shop, and Discount Zone.
Studies have shown that most smokers don’t make the connection between cigarette butts and litter! In Mandeville, cigarette butt litter is the number one litter problem. This is evident by observing the large amounts of butts collected at intersections where there are signal lights or stop signs. To make the problem even worse, these lightweight butts often make their way into our ditches and waterways, threatening the quality of the water and the lives of the creatures that live in the water.
Cigarette Butt Fast Facts:
- Cigarette butt litter is the world’s greatest environmental litter problem.
- About 95% of cigarette filters are composed of cellulose acetate, a form of plastic which does not quickly degrade and can persist in the environment.
- Cigarette butt litter is not just a local problem. Communities across the country report that cigarette butts are the most littered item – representing over 34% of the items collected during cleanups.
- Most cigarette butts travel into waterways through the storm water systems where toxic chemicals leak out of the filters threatening the quality of the water and the lives of the creatures that live in the water.
To request a pocket ashtray or for more information about cigarette butt litter email KMB at KMB@cityofmandeville.com or call 624-3165.
