Cigarette Litter Prevention & Recycling (CLPR)

Did you know? According to National Geographic, about 4.5 TRILLION cigarettes are discarded each year worldwide, making them the most littered item on Earth. Cigarette butts account for 88% of litter 4" or smaller.

These tiny pieces of trash are a big problem, and we're excited that Oakland is the first city in Alameda County to launch a Cigarette Litter Prevention and Recycling (CLPR) Program to address this challenge.

With support from Keep America Beautiful, we partnered with Oakland Public Works, Oakland Parks Recreation & Youth Development, Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation, and our recycling partner TerraCycle to install cigarette butt canisters in the Union Point Park parking lot along Oakland's Estuary. These canisters are weather-proof industrialized aluminum. Park visitors may now deposit their extinguished butts in these canisters instead of dropping them on the ground. Once the canisters reach 85% capacity, they are emptied and the collected butts are sent at no cost to Terracycle for recycling.

The plastic in cigarette butts is reused for furniture like benches, tables, and even artwork!

• Are you an Oakland business that would like to help keep cigarette butts off of our city streets and storm drains?
  Contact us to learn more about free auto and pocket ashtrays.

• Do you have questions about our CLPR Program or want to request a canister installation?
  Contact us to learn more.