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CIGARETTE LITTER PREVENTION PROGRAM

Cigarette butts are the single most littered item in the United States, and they carry a filter that does not break down. The fix turns out to be unglamorous and effective: put a receptacle where people actually smoke.

Cigarette litter prevention and recycling program

The Cigarette Litter Prevention and Recycling Program (CLPR), created by Keep America Beautiful® in 2002, is the nation’s largest program aimed at eliminating cigarette litter.

About the CLPR Program

According to the Keep America Beautiful 2026 National Litter Study, 3.8 billion cigarette butts are present across the nation’s roadways, waterways, and coastal areas at any given time.

The Cigarette Litter Prevention and Recycling Program is the nation’s largest program aimed at reducing cigarette litter. Communities implementing the program reduce cigarette litter by half based on local measurements taken in the first four to six months after the program is implemented. Since its inception, the program has been implemented in more than 1,800 U.S. communities.

TerraCycle Partnership

Cigarette filters don’t break down naturally and will persist in our environment when littered. Removing this litter from our communities through organized cleanups is just the beginning of keeping cigarette butts out of our parks and waterways. After hosting a cleanup, collecting them at home, or with a cigarette receptacle, separate cigarettes from other trash and send them to TerraCycle to be recycled using a FREE shipping label available HERE.

Read more about the partnership here.

Download The Litter Study
Flat coral-red logo lockup: a circular badge showing a lit cigarette with rising smoke and the words CIGARETTE LITTER PREVENTION, set beside the same wording in large type above a rule and the line KEEP AMERICA BEAUTIFUL.

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How does clpr work?

An effective local Cigarette Litter Prevention and Recycling Program includes four proven, field-tested solutions or strategies for reducing cigarette butt litter.

  • Review local litter laws, including cigarette butt litter, and support enforcement
  • Raise awareness about the issue of proper cigarette butt disposal using messaging and marketing campaigns
  • Place ash receptacles at transition points to non-smoking areas like beaches, hospitals, or public parks; and
  • Distribute pocket or portable ashtrays to adult smokers

Each year Keep America Beautiful awards grants to our affiliates and other nonprofit organizations doing the on-the-ground work of cleaning up cigarette butt litter in their communities.

How does clpr work?

Two workers in bright pink hi-vis vests, seen from behind, fit a slim metal cigarette-butt receptacle to a black pole on a concrete pad while a third man in a green Coral Gables cap and yellow hi-vis shirt steadies it from the far side.
An outstretched hand holds a pile of spent cigarette butts in front of a black slatted street bin. A narrow ashtray attached to the bin bears a City of Neptune Beach card, a BEACHES GO GREEN roundel and an Earth sticker reading Planet Everything.
A black padlocked cigarette receptacle strapped to a weathered wooden piling above a tidal marsh creek. Its decals read HELP KEEP YOUR COMMUNITY CLEAN DROP YOUR BUTTS HERE and a purple KEEP GOLDEN ISLES BEAUTIFUL roundel, with Philip Morris USA beneath.
Two women stand either side of a wooden post carrying a dark grey cigarette receptacle labelled with a crossed-cigarette symbol, a palmetto badge, KEEP AMERICA BEAUTIFUL and Philip Morris USA. The woman on the left wears a white PalmettoPride t-shirt; the woman on the right in a pink vest gives a thumbs up.
A woman in a blue t-shirt and sunglasses stands at an outdoor table by a rocky shoreline, tipping a glass jar packed with cigarette butts and holding a black pocket ashtray. A sign on the table reads Georgia's Coast is Not an Ashtray and a navy KEEP GOLDEN ISLES BEAUTIFUL banner hangs at the front.
A grinning woman in an orange cap and grey t-shirt hugs a silver cigarette-butt receptacle mounted on a street pole. Its yellow decal reads CIGARETTE BUTTS GO HERE TO KEEP OUR WATERS CLEAR above an illustrated city skyline and the words I Love a Clean San Diego.
Looking down into a cardboard box packed with clear zip-seal and plastic bags, each crammed full of collected cigarette butts and grit, a black bin liner beneath them.
Half a dozen new steel cigarette receptacles lined up side by side, most wrapped in navy panels reading SAVE YOUR BUTTS with a Keep College Park Beautiful logo; the centre one is green and reads RECYCLE CIGARETTE BUTTS HERE with a QR code and a BRING YOUR BUTT OVER HERE topper.
Three women stand behind an outdoor table draped in an orange KTMB Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful ktmb.org cloth with a mountain and river design. Two of them hold up sealed pouches of collected cigarette waste; the third holds leaflets beside a tall silver receptacle marked STICK IT.
Close selfie of two smiling women in yellow hi-vis vests either side of a steel post-mounted receptacle. Its panel reads RECYCLE CIGARETTE BUTTS HERE, with a note that butts placed there will be recycled and a TerraCycle logo below.
A smiling woman in a red countywide cleanup SITE CAPTAIN t-shirt, cap and sunglasses holds up a sealed pouch of cigarette waste. Text on the pouch reads that for every pound of cigarette waste sent in, one dollar goes to Keep America Beautiful.
A tan-and-white dog in a black harness sits on a concrete pad in front of a blue perforated metal bin. A slim receptacle bolted to the fence beside it carries a rainbow decal reading RECYCLE CIGARETTE WASTE with a 1-800-QUIT-NOW line.
Five girls stand on a harbour pier holding a large blue photo frame titled Cigarette Litter Cleanup Crew, its lower edge reading number one most littered item: help pick them up. Two white buckets and red work gloves are at their feet, moored sailboats behind.
Two women in grey t-shirts printed Awakening Passion. Inspiring Action. cleansd.org bolt a white cigarette-butt receptacle to a black lamp post on a concrete waterfront kerb, palm trees and a building marked 2801 behind them.
A brushed steel cigarette-butt receptacle strapped with metal bands to a grey pole on a brick pavement. Its label reads RECYCLE CIGARETTE BUTTS HERE, with a cigarette-in-a-circle icon, the note that butts placed here will be recycled, and a TerraCycle logo. A car park and street lamp sit out of focus behind.
A brushed-steel cigarette receptacle clamped to a grey pole on a sunny plaza, its decal reading CIGARETTE BUTTS GO HERE TO KEEP OUR WATERS CLEAR over an illustrated skyline and the I Love a Clean San Diego mark. A long curved glass building and palms stand behind.
A ringed hand pushes a cigarette into the slot of a black post-mounted ashtray on a sandy boardwalk. Stickers on the box read BEACHES GO GREEN, CIGARETTE LITTER PREVENTION PROGRAM KAB.ORG, and Keep America Beautiful with Philip Morris USA.
A smiling woman in a yellow hi-vis vest and red heart-shaped sunglasses kneels by a white rose bush on a city street, holding up a clear pouch of cigarette butts labelled How To Use. A pole sign behind her reads PLEASE DISPOSE OF CIGARETTES AND CIGARS IN RECEPTACLE.
A row of brushed-steel cigarette receptacles standing indoors. Panels read DID YOU KNOW? with facts about filters taking up to ten years to decompose, RECYCLE CIGARETTE BUTTS HERE with a Coral Gables The City Beautiful crest, and a QR panel marked RECEPTACLE 12.
A lit roadside billboard at night showing a discarded cigarette on asphalt with the headline NO BUTTS ABOUT IT and the line Use a trash can or a portable ashtray. A Citgo petrol station with fuel prices glows below.
Two young men stand either side of a wooden post in a wooded area where a black wall-mounted cigarette receptacle has just been fitted. The man on the left in a camouflage shirt and cap holds a yellow cordless drill; the bearded man on the right wears a cream DCNR Conservation Volunteer t-shirt.
Close view of a rainbow-gradient decal on a steel post receptacle standing beside a lime-green perforated bin in a sunlit car park. The lettering reads RECYCLE CIGARETTE WASTE with an OKC Beautiful mark and an Oklahoma Tobacco Helpline 1-800-QUIT-NOW panel.
A young man in an orange long-sleeved shirt with an Arlington Community Action Group badge and wraparound mirrored sunglasses stands in a park holding up a steel canister filled to the brim with cigarette butts, black work gloves on his hands.
Five foil pouches of dark cigarette waste laid out on a shop counter, each carrying a large UPS Ground shipping label addressed to Santa Fe Natural Brigade, TerraCycle NRP Returns in Aurora, Illinois.

Inside the effort to reduce cigarette litter

Undescribed photograph from How to Recycle Items You Didn’t Know Were Recyclable. No description was migrated for this image.

How to Recycle Items You Didn’t Know Were Recyclable

October 29, 2024 · McCall Vrydaghs

This America Recycles Day, Keep America Beautiful offers tips and resources for safely recycling tricky materials like batteries, cigarette butts, styrofoam, and more.

Learn more
Undescribed photograph from Keep America Beautiful to Award Up to $375K in Grants to Combat Cigarette Litter. No description was migrated for this image.

Keep America Beautiful to Award Up to $375K in Grants to Combat Cigarette Litter

February 2, 2024 · McCall Vrydaghs

Keep America Beautiful® is accepting applications for the 2024 Cigarette Litter Prevention Program (CLPP) Grants. The initiative aims to reduce the amount of cigarette waste disposed of in public spaces and waterways through collection and recycling.

Learn more

Exploring the Path to a Waste-Free Future: A Conversation with TerraCycle

November 20, 2023 · McCall Vrydaghs

Learn about innovative solutions for hard-to-recycle materials, the economics behind recycling, and how circular thinking can transform everyday items

Learn more

Keep Butts Off the Ground, Keep Communities Beautiful

Everyone can make a difference—starting with simple actions like picking up litter, including cigarette butts, to help clean, green, and beautify our communities. Join the movement and take the first step today. Explore more CLPR resources below.

Create a Cigarette Litter Ordinance

Discover ways to get involved

Learn about CLPR Grants

Donate to Reduce Cigarette Litter

KAB 2020 National Litter Study

Find your local KAB affiliate

The movement, measured

More than two decades of it

1,800+

Communities

Have run the program since 2003

50%

Average reduction

In cigarette waste where implemented

63%

Where receptacles landed

Estimated drop in 2023 sites

20%

Of all litter

Is cigarette butts, nationally

261,000

Pounds recycled

Filters diverted since 2014

$375K

In grants

Offered in the 2024 round

Source: Keep America Beautiful — Cigarette Litter Prevention Program, cumulative to 2024; butt share from the 2020 National Litter Study (kab.org)

Three ways in

Keep Greensboro Beautiful volunteers documenting a cigarette-litter prevention site as part of the program's interim reporting.

Apply for a grant

Communities and organizations can apply for funding to install receptacles, run local awareness work and set up collection. Grant rounds open annually.

Learn more
Collected cigarette filters bagged and labelled for shipment to a recycling processor.

Recycle what you collect

Collected filters do not have to go to landfill. Through a long-running recycling partnership they are processed into products like park benches and ashtrays.

Learn more
A pavement receptacle in place outside a row of shops, with the surrounding kerb visibly clear of litter.

Start with one doorway

The research is blunt: smokers are significantly less likely to litter when a receptacle is within reach. A single well-placed one changes a corner.

Learn more

Small item, national problem

One in five pieces of litter on the ground in America is a cigarette butt. Your affiliate can tell you whether a program is already running near you.

Find your affiliate

Cigarette butts are the single most littered item in the United States, and the 2020 National Litter Study put them at 20% of the litter found on the ground and in waterways. Cigarette filters do not break down naturally, and will persist in our environment when littered.

The research points at a fix that is almost mundane. Smokers are significantly less likely to litter when a convenient ash receptacle is nearby — so the program funds receptacles, pocket ashtrays and the local infrastructure that makes not littering the easier option.

What it has changed

Since 2003 the program has run in more than 1,800 communities, achieving an average 50% reduction in cigarette waste. Nearly 1,000 receptacles distributed in 2023 produced an estimated 63% reduction where they were installed.

Butts become benches

Since 2014 a partnership with TerraCycle has recycled more than 261,000 pounds of cigarette butts — about the weight of an adult blue whale — into park benches and ashtrays.

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