Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful Tuesday announced it has received a $20,000 grant from Keep America Beautiful to continue their work with the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources on the KAB Cigarette Litter Prevention Program.
This is the eighth year that KPB received funding from the national organization.
Keep PA Beautiful and DCNR will work in six Pennsylvania State Parks that offer recreational lakes, whitewater rafting, canoeing, kayaking as well as and thousands of miles of hiking trails.
The parks participating in the 2018 CLPP Grant are: Point State Park (Allegheny County), Linn Run (Westmoreland County), Laurel Summit (Somerset County), Laurel Ridge (Cambria, Fayette, Somerset, Westmoreland counties), Oil Creek (Venango County) and Yellow Creek (Indiana County) State Parks.
To combat litter, the program advocates that participating communities use four approaches: encourage enforcement of litter laws, including cigarette litter; raise awareness about the issue; place ash receptacles in places like entrances to public buildings; and distribute portable ashtrays to smokers.
In 2017, Keep PA Beautiful and DCNR to implemented the CLPP program at Cook Forest, Clear Creek, Kinzua Bridge, Maurice K Goddard, Ohiopyle and Raccoon Creek. Click Here for more.
The combined initial survey was 4,303 cigarette butts with a final survey of 478 cigarette butts, a reduction rate of 89 percent. The final survey is evaluated after the installation of ash receptacles, education implementation and the distribution of portable ashtrays.
“The Cigarette Litter Prevention Program is a proven tool to address the number one littered item in America. We could not think of a better place to implement the program, given that 38 million people visit our state parks each year,” explained Shannon Reiter, President of Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful. “Thanks to Keep America Beautiful, we can continue to invest in this highly effective program.”
“The 2018 grant recipients are charged with moving the program forward to help educate and inspire smokers to do the right thing,” said Helen Lowman, president and CEO at Keep America Beautiful, in a statement. “The new marketing assets, which any community can localize and use, will enable affiliates, local governments and other community groups to teach adult smokers about the negative impacts related to littering and the role they can play in improving their community.”
Since its establishment, the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program has consistently cut cigarette butt litter by approximately half based on local measurements taken in the first four months to six months after program implementation.
Survey results also demonstrate that as communities continue to implement and monitor the program those reductions are sustained or even increased over time. Keep America Beautiful has distributed nearly $3.3 million in grant funding since 2006 to support local implementation of the program in more than 1,700 communities.
Keep America Beautiful provides a variety of resources to help communities reduce cigarette litter.
The "Guide to Cigarette Litter Prevention" provides information about starting and maintaining a Cigarette Litter Prevention Program in any community. Click Here to view the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program PSA video, as well as the Cigarette Litter in America Infographic.
For more information on programs, initiatives and special events, visit the Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful website. Click Here to become a member. Click Here to sign up for regular updates from KPB, Like them on Facebook, Follow on Twitter, Discover them on Pinterest and visit their YouTube Channel.
Also visit the Illegal Dump Free PA website for more ideas on how to clean up communities and keep them clean and KPB’s Electronics Waste website.
Sign up now for the 2018 Great American Cleanup of PA and volunteer or set up your own cleanup and beautification event through May 31.
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