The Hot Springs Garland County Beautification Commission has just been informed that they have won the national first place for a new Cigarette Litter Prevention Program (CLPP) from Keep America Beautiful (KAB).

Bronwen Evans, the national program manager for the CLPP said that "the judges were blown away by the clear scientific and systematic approach to the problem of developing a measure that would investigate the effectiveness of cigarette litter signage. The detailed record keeping allowed for clear patterns of litter behavior and the effects of other environmental factors, especially precipitation to be seen."

Adam Roberts, Executive Director of the Commission said that "This is not just an award to the Commission, but to the community, because the City of Hot Springs Safety Committee reviewed all of the proposed sites, and the City Traffic Dept. then placed the signs."

The result of the award winning study was clear; the sites with signs had less cigarette litter, 69-percent less! However, what was perhaps more interesting was the amount of cigarette litter that had disappeared during the periods of heavy rain, for example, 1 to 2.5 inches of rain washed away approximately 85-percent of the butts counted in the study areas. In total, during the study an estimated 5,567 pieces of cigarette litter had disappeared. These results will be presented at the KAB National conference by Roberts where he will also be on panel discussions (Grants providing all expenses).

Mindy Porter, the newly elected Chair of the Commission said "we are already talking with local, state and national leaders to develop the next phase in this work that will continue to scientifically evaluate how we can reduce Cigarette litter in our community and beyond".

Click here for more information on the Hot Springs Garland County Beautification Commission.