Beautification Edition - 1736 Magazine, Summer 2019

RIGHT: Edkesha Anderson,
program manager for
Keep Augusta Beautiful,
shows one of the Adopt a
Spot signs that volunteer
clean-up groups use for
designated areas.
BELOW: Trash and cigarette
butts fill the base of a
signpost on the 900 block
of Broad Street. Litter
groups say the recent
indoor smoking ban has
led to an accumulation of
discarded cigarette butts
throughout downtown.
[PHOTOS BY DAMON CLINE/
THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE]
in downtown and its surrounding neighborhoods.
Its primary focus is education and outreach, as
every piece of litter has a human face behind it.
“Our motto is litter begins and ends with us,” she
said. “If we stop littering, litter won’t be there.”
BUTT-HEADS
The single-largest source of downtown litter
comes from smokers, Anderson said. The problem
of errantly flicking cigarette butts on streets and
sidewalks has been exacerbated by the city’s indoor
smoking ban in bars and most public places.
The ordinance took effect Jan. 1.
“For some reason, it has become natural habit for
people to just flick their butts instead of putting them
into the trash cans or ashtrays,” Anderson said.
Her program’s affiliation with the national
organization gives it access to low-cost cigarette
receptacles – referred to as “sidewalk butlers” – and
airtight, foil-lined “pocket ashtrays” that smokers
can use to store their butts until they find a trash can.
Anderson has been trying to get the word out to bar
and restaurant owners that both products are free to
any downtown business that requests them.
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