'Please Butt-In:' Today's The Day In Fredericksburg

FREDERICKSBURG, VA—Authorities are going all out to reduce the number of discarded cigarette butts in the city, and that includes an increased number of receptacles for butts as well as an organized event Monday, June 24, to literally scout out and find the offending butts.

As for the new receptacles, there are 30 such "sidewalk buttlers" around city parks. Donated by Richmond-based Keep America Beautiful, the receptacles are located in the areas of City Dock, Hurkamp Park, Old Mill Park, Old Mill Park, Alum Spring Park and Motts Run Reservoir.

As for the event, dubbed "Please Butt In," it's scheduled for 3-4 p.m. and will begin in Market Square at 907 Princess Anne Street. Individuals and volunteer groups will be given a small plastic bag with a plastic gloves and an assignment card. The volunteers then will fan out to their "assignments", picking up butts along the way.

Volunteers will have an hour to collect as many butts on sidewalks as they can find. The event will end at City Dock on Sophia Street, where a celebration of the new cigarette disposal units will be held.

Said Robert Courtnage, chairman of the city's Clean and Green commission in the release: "Cigarette butts are the single most littered item in the world. As the filters are made mostly of plastic, they don't degrade in the environment. When dropped on the street or in the park they can be swept into storm drains by the rain and into the Rappahannock River where they are eaten by fish and birds who mistake them for food."

For more information about the "Please Butt In" event or the "Butts are Litter, Too!" campaign, visit the Fredericksburg Clean and Green Commission's Facebook page.