Keep America Beautiful Awards ECEL a $2,500 Grant

     Destin, FL, June 27 - ECEL is pleased to announce it is once again participating in Keep America Beautiful’s Cigarette Litter Prevention Program (CLPP) and has been awarded a $2,500 grant by the organization to enhance the campaign’s effectiveness.

     “With support of the Destin Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Mayor Craig Barker, and the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, we received the grant for this year’s campaign. ECEL couldn’t have received the grant without this team and would like to thank them publicly for their support,” said ECEL Chairman, Susie Cross, Carr, Riggs & Ingram, LLC.

     Keep America Beautiful developed its CLPP 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 13 communities around the country, and results confirmed the program will be a success in any size community. ECEL’s participation in the CLPP program last year resulted in a 43 percent reduction in cigarette litter along its target area, the stretch of docks from Fisherman’s Wharf to HarborWalk Marina in Destin.

     ECEL will begin the program in late summer by scanning a target area and counting the amount of cigarette litter found there. It will then spend the next six weeks spreading the word that cigarettes are litter too by radio, print, and television announcements and by handing out pocket ashtrays in the target area. The $2,500 grant will enable the organization to purchase and place permanent ash receptacles and signage along the target area. After a six-week period, ECEL members will again scan the target area, counting the amount of litter found there. It will then send all of its data to Keep America Beautiful for further development of litter prevention programs, of which ECEL members hope to continue to be a part.