Cigarette Litter Prevention Program
Did you know that cigarette butts are the most frequently littered item? During a recent beach scan, 388 cigarette butts were collected at Little Island Park.
Virginia Beach Parks & Recreation has partnered with Keep America Beautiful to reduce cigarette butt litter. It can take up to 10 years for a cigarette filter to decompose, so our Department is challenging the community to use appropriate receptacles to help keep our parks clean, green, and beautiful!
The Cigarette Litter Prevention Program, created by Keep America Beautiful in 2002, is the nation's largest program aimed at eliminating cigarette litter.
Since its inception, the program has been successfully implemented in more than 1,700 U.S. communities nationwide. Over the past 10 years, it has consistently cut cigarette butt litter by nearly 50 percent based on local community measurements taken in the first four months to six months after program implementation. As communities continue to monitor the program, those reductions are sustained or even increased over time.