Public Works

Can Your Butts Program

What Can Businesses Do To Help?

Provide and maintain cigarette receptacles to prevent littering.

• 38% of cigarette litter is associated with the number of ash trays available and the amount of existing litter.  For every added receptacle, the littering rate decreases by 9%.

Provide receptacles in employee smoking areas.

• 41% of employees who smoke report no cigarette receptacles at their workplace.

Go green!  Consider recycling cigarette waste.

• terracycle.com has a free program for businesses to ship cigarette waste to be recycled into products like plastic pallets. Even the tobacco and ash are recycled via composting! Learn more in the Recycle Your Butts section below.

Long Beach’s “Can Your Butts” Campaign

Cigarette litter is bad for business in Long Beach —it’s unsightly to customers, it can negatively impact tourism, and it’s toxic to the environment.  That’s why we’re asking the community to Can Your Butts.

The Can Your Butts (CYB) campaign is an opportunity for Long Beach restaurants, bars and barber shops to reduce cigarette litter through a voluntary partnership with Litter-Free LB.  These businesses are required by City Code to provide and maintain cigarette litter receptacles for public use. (See Preventing Cigarette Litter – It’s the Law).  Participating businesses in the following “CYB Target Zones” can receive free resources such as posters, pocket ashtrays, and a cigarette waste receptacle for the front of their establishment.

• Pilot program zone: Broadway between Alamitos Ave and Redondo Ave
• (Other program zones to be announced)

Do you own or manage a business in a CYB Target Zone and would like to participate in this program?  Email cleanlongbeach@longbeach.gov or call (562) 570-2895.  Long Beach business owners and managers throughout the city can also download the posters and handouts available below.

Downloadable Resources (PDFs)

• Poster
• Handout sheet

Tips for Smokers	Recycle Your Butts	Preventing Cigarette Litter