US: KGIB Receives Another Grant to Aid in Cigarette Waste Reduction

Source from:  The News 06/28/2016

It's not plastic bottles, empty soda cans or even discarded grocery bags that cause the biggest problems for the Golden Isles ecosystem. While those pieces of litter are harmful to the local environment and pose their own sets of problems, it is a much smaller culprit doing much of the damage — cigarette butts.

Cigarette butts are the No. 1 most littered item in the country, which proves a real problem for the coastal region, said Lea King-Badyna, executive director of Keep Golden Isles Beautiful.

"It's so easy to just flick a cigarette butt on the ground or out the window without giving it a second thought," she said.

King-Badyna, though, does think about the issue often. She has again reached out to other eco-protection agencies for help, now receiving yet another grant to combat the problem.

For the third year in a row, King-Badyna and her agency have been awarded a $2,500 grant from the Keep America Beautiful initiative to help fuel additional resources to fight the hot-button issue. The cigarette litter prevention program, or CCLP, grant comes to the organization with the support of the University of Marine Extension Service and Georgia Sea Grant agencies. The grant was established to help communities put a foot down and combat cigarette litter-linked issues.

"We certainly couldn't fight this huge fight alone, and we appreciate all the additional support we get from fellow agencies to reduce this all-too-common stream of waste," she said.

Through the grant, KGIB will be able to purchase 12 additional light-pole cigarette receptacles, with six to go up in downtown Brunswick and another six to be installed in the St. Simons Island Pier Village area.

Those two locations were chosen because they are high traffic spots for guests and residents, and have been found in previous surveys to be major sources of cigarette waste, she said.

With the new 12 receptacles to go up in coming weeks, that brings a total of 24 such light-pole waste disposal bins to those two locations with the help of previous grants, she said. Five standalone cigarette receptacles have also been purchased for use in designated public spaces, she said.

Since beginning work to reduce cigarette litter several years ago, King-Badyna has seen the number of butts tossed on the ground cut nearly in half. Two years ago, in a survey of the Pier Village area, some 2,000 butts were counted. However, last year, the same survey only documented about 1,000 butts.

"The waste is reducing, but it's still too much," she said. "Anything we can do to reduce these numbers is worth the effort. We're gong in the right direction, but progress is always ongoing." Enditem