We are working to help reduce cigarette butt litter as part of our broader goal of reducing the environmental impact of our business. We recognize that cigarette butt litter is a significant contributor to litter in our environment today.
As the leading manufacturer and marketer of cigarettes in the United States, Philip Morris USA is helping reduce cigarette butt litter. Based on the results of
Ocean Conservancy's 2006 Annual International Coastal Cleanup, more cigarette butts were collected than any other type of litter and cigarette butts accounted for almost one-third of all items collected.
We're partnering with others to address this issue, and educating smokers that cigarettes are litter and should be disposed of properly.
Since 2002, PM USA has collaborated with Keep America Beautiful (KAB) to provide funds to research, develop and launch a multi-year Cigarette Litter Prevention Program (CLPP) specifically to address the issue of cigarette butt litter. This model KAB program consists of the following strategies:
- communicating messages designed to increase consumer awareness that cigarette butts are litter too
- installing ash receptacles at transition points, such as outside a hotel or office where a smoker must extinguish a cigarette before entering
- encouraging the use of portable litter devices which enable a smoker to dispose of our product on-the-go properly
- encouraging enforcement of existing litter laws
As of January 2008, KAB, through its affiliates and partner organizations, has implemented the program in more than 180 communities across the country. In 2007, the program achieved an average 54 percent reduction in cigarette litter in the communities and venues participating.
PM USA also works with The Ocean Conservancy to support their International Coastal Cleanup, Clean Virginia Waterways and North Carolina Big Sweep. Our employees volunteer for many of these cleanup activities.
To date, we communicate about cigarette butt litter prevention to adult cigarette smokers in the following ways:
- through our website
- on-pack
- direct mail programs to adult cigarette smokers
- distribution of more than 2 million portable litter devices
We work with litter reduction organizations, individuals and other groups to increase awareness that cigarette butts are litter, to support education campaigns that encourage adult cigarette smokers to dispose of cigarette butts properly, to encourage the installation and maintenance of public place receptacles, and to promote the use of portable litter devices.
