Cigarette butts are the most commonly discarded piece of waste worldwide. It is estimated that 1.69 BILLION pounds of butts wind up as toxic trash each year, creating an enormous environmental, health, and economic burden. Our quaint little mountain town of Bend is not immune to this problem. Many of the discarded butts ends up in our river and water supply which is absolutely unacceptable! A strong stance must be established or we will be overrun by the disrespectful slobs.

Our mission will be to actively identify areas of highest litter rates, put into place infrastructure to capture the litter, monitor the results, and finally establish a sustainability model to ensure the program remains properly funded,

Local Businesses will be brought into the project, Litter cleanup costs the U.S. more than an estimated $11.5 billion each year. Businesses pay $9.1 billion of the cleanup costs, or about 80%. They can help most by allowing us to put the receptacles on their property, helping us empty them when they become full, and pledging financial support to keep the project running.

Cigarettes collected will be recycled by TerraCycle:

https://www.terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/cigarette-waste-brigade#how-it-works

Once collected, the cigarettes and packaging are separated by composition and melted into hard plastic that can be remolded to make new recycled industrial products, such as plastic pallets. The ash and tobacco are separated out and composted in a specialized process. For every pound of cigarette waste collected, TerraCycle will donate $1.00 towards the Keep America Beautiful Cigarette Litter Prevention Program. I will also find local sponsors that would match or pledge a certain dollar amount per shipment to keep the program running. This is a sustainable model which will be funded by local level support from businesses and concerned citizens.