Please Continue to Pick Your Butts Up, Tyler

Remember when we told you to Pick Your Butts Up last year? Well, it continues to pay off.

The 2017 Cigarette Litter Prevention Program concluded in a 69 percent reduction in cigarette butt litter in the surveyed Downtown Tyler area.

Keep Tyler Beautiful became one of 42 organizations nationwide to receive grant funding through the 2018 Cigarette Litter Prevention Program, which is funded by Keep America Beautiful. The goal is to reduce cigarette litter across the nation.

According to Keep America Beautiful, cigarette butts are the most littered item in our country. In 2017, Keep Tyler Beautiful launched their Cigarette Litter Prevention Program in Downtown Tyler by placing eight ash receptacles in strategic places throughout the area.

Outside of Downtown, many other ash receptacles were added at  Broadway Square, and hundreds of pocket and car ashtrays were handed out to citizens.

With the 2018 grant funding, Keep Tyler Beautiful hopes to purchase more ash receptacles as they have proven to be the most effective way to reduce cigarette litter.