Contributing To Nationwide Cigarette Litter Prevention - Altria

As the parent of companies that depend on our planet’s natural resources, Altria Group has set a goal to reduce the environmental impact of our businesses and to promote the sustainability of the natural resources on which they depend.


Nationwide Cigarette Litter Prevention

We know that cigarettes are often improperly disposed of in America.

Philip Morris USA communicates with smokers on cigarette packs and through its corporate and consumer websites that cigarette butts are litter and should be disposed of properly. The company also works with others who care about this issue.

Since 2002, PM USA has collaborated with Keep America Beautiful to provide funds to research, develop and launch a Cigarette Litter Prevention Program (CLPP). This model program consists of the following strategies:

  • communicating messages and supporting education campaigns designed to increase consumer awareness that cigarette butts are litter;
  • installing ash receptacles at transition points, such as outside a hotel or office where a smoker must extinguish a cigarette;
  • encouraging the use of portable litter devices, so that a smoker can dispose of cigarette butts properly; and
  • encouraging enforcement of existing litter laws.

In 2011, the program rolled out 252 new grant-supported programs in locations across the country. Since its inception, Keep America Beautiful has implemented the program in  more than 1,000 U.S. communities.

During the past six years, CLPP consistently has cut cigarette butt litter by half based on local measurements taken in the first four to six months after implementation, as measured by Keep America Beautiful. Survey results also showed that as communities continue to monitor the program, those reductions are sustained or even increased over time. For example, eight communities that started programs between 2007 and 2009 showed a total average reduction of 74 percent when measured again in 2011.

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