Colfax Ave Business Improvement District received a $10,000 grant from Keep America Beautiful to help stop cigarette butts from piling up along the iconic corridor.
There are four music venues, more than 20 bars and 25,000 people who live within a 10-minute walk of East Colfax Avenue between Grant and Josephine streets, according to the business district. And that adds up to plenty of smokers along that stretch of the road once described by Playboy magazine
With the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program grant, the business district can try to combat litter by:
- Encouraging enforcement of litter laws
- Raising awareness about the issue through public service messages
- Placing ash receptacles at transition points, such as entrances to public buildings
- Distributing pocket or portable ashtrays to smokers
The business improvement district was one of 42 organizations to receive the grant. In total, $295,000 of grants were allocated in 2017, the 16th year of the grant program, according to the business district.
Survey results from past programs, which have been implemented in more than 1,700 communities, show that cigarette-butt litter is cut by about half within the first four to six months, according to the business district. Continued implementation and monitoring shows the reductions stick around or increase over time.
