JACKSON – Throughout the month of May, the Hancock County Welcome Center will join the Keep America Beautiful nationwide campaign to promote its Cigarette Litter Prevention Program. The program will target cigarette butt litter throughout the area surrounding the Hancock County Welcome Center.
“The Mississippi Welcome Centers are among the first stops for visitors to the state. They offer an ideal venue to offer educational information and to raise awareness about environmental issues like cigarette butt litter,” said Mary Beth Wilkerson, director of the Mississippi Development Authority’s Tourism Division, which staffs the state’s Welcome Center. “Cigarette butt litter not only affects quality-of-life, it also impacts the appeal of our state’s recreational areas and the well-being of local wildlife, and it can eventually contribute to the loss of tourism revenue.”
Cigarette butts are the most littered item in America, representing nearly 30 percent of all items documented in nationwide clean-up initiatives. The Cigarette Litter Prevention Program addresses the issue by integrating proven approaches:
- encouraging enforcement of litter laws that include cigarette litter
- raising awareness about the issue using public service messages
- placing ash receptacles at transition points such as entrances to public buildings, and
- distributing pocket ashtrays to adults.
Tonya Neely, bureau manager for MDA Tourism’s Welcome Center/Visitor Services Bureau, added, “By spreading the word and implementing proven strategies to prevent cigarette butt litter, we hope to create a cleaner, more pleasant atmosphere in and around the Welcome Center and encourage visitors and residents alike to take the message across the state.”
Keep America Beautiful has field-tested and expanded the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program for the last six years with support from Philip Morris USA, an Altria company.
Established in 1953, Keep America Beautiful, Inc. is the nation’s largest volunteer-based community action and education organization.
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