Keep PA Beautiful, PA Turnpike Commission Partner On Cigarette Litter Prevention At Up To 17 Service Plazas

On July 30, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful announced it will partner with the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to implement the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program at up to 17 service plazas and interchange access buildings across the state with a $20,000 grant received from Keep America Beautiful.  

The CLPP program will begin with a scan, or physical count, of cigarette butts and other tobacco related products littering each service plaza. 

Ash receptacles will then be installed at the entrance to buildings and other transition points. Two additional scans will be performed, one midway through the year and a final count at the end of the program. 

The effectiveness of the program will be measured by comparing the pre and post program scan of the physical count of cigarette butts and other tobacco products. 

Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful will provide educational messaging about the consequences of cigarette and other tobacco related litter for displaying at participating service plazas.

“The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and our Sustainability Committee are proud to partner with Keep PA Beautiful to enhance current efforts to curb cigarette litter at our service plazas,” said Keith Jack, Director of Facilities Operations and co-chair of the Turnpike’s Sustainability Committee. “With more than 550,000 daily users across our system, we also hope to bolster awareness to travelers about the issue of proper cigarette butt disposal with educational messaging and marketing campaigns and by placing cigarette ash receptacles at entrances to service plaza buildings and other high-volume transition points.” 

Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful has a partnership with TerraCycle to recycle and compost the cigarette butt waste that is collected. 

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 new recycled industrial products, such as plastic pallets. The residual tobacco and paper are separated out and composted in a specialized process.

“We’re shining a light on this program to emphasize that even the smallest pieces of litter, like a cigarette butt, when disposed of responsibly can make a huge difference,” said Kathryn Hartzell, the Turnpike’s Director of Technology and Innovation and co-chair of the Sustainability Committee. “Not only can we reduce the amount of cigarette and tobacco products that are littered, but the collected butts can be recycled into something useful. We’re grateful to Keep America Beautiful for the funding that allows us to continue to invest in this highly effective program.”

“Access to ash receptacles and public education are useful tools to help reduce the most littered item in our litter stream. We are excited to partner with the PA Turnpike Commission to reduce the amount of cigarette butts and tobacco products littered at service plazas across the state,” said Shannon Reiter, President, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful.  

According to Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful’s 2019 Pennsylvania Litter Research Study, over 500 million pieces of litter were found on Pennsylvania’s roadways. Of the total estimated litter, 186.2 million or 37.1 percent were cigarette butts.  

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

To find out more about the program, visit KPB’s Cigarette Litter Prevention Program webpage or contact Michelle Dunn, Program Coordinator, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful at mdunn@keeppabeautiful.org. 

Community Stewardship Summit

Registration now open for the 2024 Summit for Community Stewardship on October 16-17 in Scranton.

For more information on programs, initiatives and special events, visit the Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful website.  Click Here to sign up for regular updates from KPB, Like them on Facebook, Follow on Twitter, visit their YouTube Channel.

The 2024 Pick Up Pennsylvania Initiative is now underway!  Questions should be directed to Michelle Dunn at 1-877-772-3673 Ext. 113 or send email to: mdunn@keeppabeautiful.org.

Keep PA Beautiful helps mobilize over 100,000 volunteers a year to pick up litter, clean up illegal dumping and beautify Pennsylvania.

Related Articles:

-- PA Resources Council/Allegheny County Health To Host Aug. 17 Household Chemical Collection Event In Allegheny County  [PaEN] 

-- PA Resources Council: Traveling Glass Recycling Bins Will Be In Allegheny, Delaware, Lawrence, Mercer County Communities During August  [PaEN] 

-- Keep PA Beautiful, PA Turnpike Commission Partner On Cigarette Litter Prevention At Up To 17 Service Plazas  [PaEN]

[Posted: July 30, 2024]  PA Environment Digest