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Large Fake Cigarette Butts

Green Grant of $1,000 Awarded to askHRgreen for Cigarette Litter Prevention

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Large Fake Cigarette ButtsToday’s Green Grant award goes to askHRgreen in the amount of $1,000 for their Cigarette Litter Prevention Program.  It’s one of thirty grants being awarded throughout Virginia in June as part of our 12th Annual “Green Grants” Program.

askHRgreen.org is a public awareness program of the 17 cities and counties of Hampton Roads that is administered through the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission. askHRgreen encourages environmental stewardship among all residents in southeastern Virginia.

askHRgreen.org is dedicated to curbing cigarette litter and are actively engaged in educating the public about cigarette litter through their #NoButtsAboutIt campaign. There are two key parts to this campaign. First, large-scale cigarette butt replicas were constructed and are displayed in prominent locations around the region, bringing awareness to the problem of cigarette litter. At two feet tall, the cigarette replicas make a big statement that cigarette litter is not a small problem.

For the second action item to the #NoButtsAboutIt campaign, askHRgreen.org places cigarette waste receptacles into the hands of local businesses to assist them in eliminating cigarette butt litter on the ground and in the landscape.  Locating a convenient disposal option for smokers at transition points, such as the entry door from the parking lot of retail businesses, restaurants, grocery stores, gyms, libraries, and more, is a proven way to combat cigarette litter.

askHRgreen LogoInitially launched in spring 2021, the program has provided 48 cigarette receptacles to area businesses thus far, at no charge. This represents a small number of the businesses interested in receiving a cigarette butt receptacle at their location. There are over 100 additional requests pending for receptacles.

The Green Grant funding will help askHRgreen provide an additional twelve receptacles for area businesses, as well as create new outreach materials featuring the #NoButtsAboutIt large-scale cigarette butts.

With cigarette butts being the most often littered item in Virginia, it’s good to see programs like this one that will give smokers options for proper disposal of cigarette butts.  Congratulations askHRgreen!

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Grab Your Gloves! It’s the Great American Cleanup!

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Though you would never know it with the weather that we’ve been having, it is almost Spring.  That can only mean one thing:

It’s almost time for the Great American Cleanup!Great American Cleanup

The Great American Cleanup is the largest grassroots community project in the United States.  We had a great turn-out last year, and we suppose that Keep America Beautiful heard about our commitment.  This year, they’ve chosen Hampton Roads to be one of the 10 regional kick-off locations in the country!  Way to go Hampton Roads!

The events will begin on Friday, April 27th, and continue on Saturday, April 28th.  The Hampton Roads Cleanup will involve hundreds of volunteers transforming local parks, waterways and recreational areas into cleaner, greener environments.  On the morning of April 27th, corporate and military command teams will join forces with local volunteers to perform cleanup projects at community based sites throughout the region. There will be a “#Green Starts Here” celebration event that evening at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk.  It will thank all of the state dignitaries, local elected officials, military leaders, volunteer team leaders, community leaders, and corporate sponsors for all they do to keep Hampton Roads beautiful.

On Saturday, April 28th, more volunteer teams will spread out around the region to pitch in with other Cleanup events.

The idea is being coordinated by askHRgreen. They’ve been working with communities in the Hampton Roads area for the past six months, trying to identify “transformational” community improvement projects with an eye toward turning local parks, playgrounds and public spaces into greener, more sustainable places to live, work and play. The idea, according to Regional Project Chairman John Deuel, is to connect Hampton Roads volunteers with projects that will be meaningful to their community. In addition, community and environmental leaders may submit requests for new sites to add to the list.

BeautificationLast year, around 3.8 million people participated in the Great American Cleanup.  There were over 30,000 events in 16,500 communities around the country. Volunteers picked up over 177 million pounds of litter, cleaned 110,000 miles of roadway, and planted 166,000 trees.  Buildings were painted, gardens were planted, and trash was picked up (from cigarette butts to automobiles, and a full sized organ!)  Many of our corporate sponsors are back on board this year, from Waste Management and Pepsi, to LG Electronics and Glad.  We had some great events here in Virginia last year, and thousands of volunteers throughout the Commonwealth, but we’d love to see a bigger turnout this year!

If you want to get involved, or find out about projects close to your community, visit askHRgreen.org.   If your organization or business would like to participate or help sponsor you can contact Mike Baum.  If you need more information, you can reach Keep Virginia Beautiful at (804)665-2908.