City Center Partnership Joins Keep the Midlands Beautiful to Continue to Keep Downtown Clean

COLUMBIA, SC – December 19, 2008 – City Center Partnership (CCP) and Keep the Midlands Beautiful (KMB) are pleased to announce cigarette butt receptacles have been placed along Main Street in an effort to continue their mission in keeping downtown a clean place. CCP received a grant from Keep America Beautiful in the amount of $1,500 toward this effort. Four cigarette butt receptacles were purchased with the grant and placed along Main Street. In June of this year, CCP also received 1,000 ashtrays from Keep America Beautiful that are being distributed by members of CCP’s Clean Team.   

Three scans of the downtown area between Lady and Washington Streets, where most of the cigarette butts had been found, was taken by City Center Partnership. The first scan was taken on June 17, 2008 and 508 cigarette butts were swept up. The second scan was taken on July 8 and 350 cigarette butts were swept up. The final scan was taken on December 12, after the receptacles were placed on Main Street, and only 125 butts were recovered.

“It is great to see the positive impact the receptacles have had so soon after installing them on Main Street,” said Karel Givens, Vice President of Administration & Development for City Center Partnership.  

“Cigarette litter accounts for a large percentage of the litter that Keep the Midlands Beautiful volunteers remove during cleanups,” said Heidi Johnson, Executive Director of Keep the Midlands Beautiful. “We are delighted to be working with the City Center Partnership to improve Columbia’s downtown.”

The purchase of the cigarette butt receptacles was supported by a grant through Keep America Beautiful’s Cigarette Litter Prevention Program, which was developed after identifying cigarette litter (cigarettes, packaging, and lighting material) as the most littered items found in cleanups around the country. Best practices in America and abroad were studied, field-testing was conducted in thirteen communities around the country and results confirmed the program will be a success in any size community.

About City Center Partnership

City Center Partnership, Inc. (CCP) is a non-profit organization that manages South Carolina’s only managed Business Improvement District in the 36-block area bounded by Gervais, Elmwood, Assembly, and Marion streets in downtown Columbia and is funded by the property owners within the district boundaries.

About Keep the Midlands Beautiful
 

Established in 1989 to serve Richland and Lexington Counties, Keep the Midlands Beautiful provides sustainable solutions for individuals and groups to improve the community through beautification, waste reduction, recycling and litter prevention. The mission is to empower individuals to take greater responsibility for enhancing their community environment.