James City County is doing its part to minimize roadside litter by educating smokers that cigarette butts = litter. The James City Clean County Commission chose to spearhead this campaign at the Commuter Parking Lot on Croaker Road just off I-64 Exit 231B where cigarette butts and plastic cigar tips line the parking lot.
Cigarette litter accumulates in specific areas, which indicates the spots where commuters congregate when waiting for the commuter vanpools. In other areas of the parking lot it is obvious that smokers empty their ashtrays on the pavement next to their parked cars.
Volunteers cleared the site of cigarette litter in mid-April and then conducted a survey in mid-May. In just one month over 300 cigarette butts and plastic cigar tips had accumulated on only 1/5 of the parking lot! Thanks to a grant from Keep America Beautiful, 4 ash receptacles were installed at locations that would be most convenient to smokers.
On an early Thursday morning in June, volunteers from the James City Clean County Commission watched the sun come up while distributing litter bags with pocket ashtrays, cup holder ashtrays and information to commuters as they parked their cars and waited for the vanpool to arrive.
Because this is a transit site, people are in a rush while trying to commute from Point A to Point B, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t make better choices about what to do with their cigarette litter. And so what we found is that smokers are happy to be educated about their options and are interested to learn more about how this outreach links to the James City County Board of Supervisors’ initiative to focus on county appearance.
The Commission is using this location to spearhead their work in other locations throughout the county such as county offices, public parks and construction sites. James City volunteers care deeply about this issue and encourage other volunteers to help spread the word that cigarette butts = litter too!
This post contributed by Dawn Oleksy, Environmental Coordinator with James City County.