Following up on two cigarette litter scans conducted by the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership in 2008, students from the anti-smoking alliance TRU hit the bricks in May collecting and counting cigarette butts on Franklin Street.
The initial count in 2008 found 5,784 cigarette butts along the downtown section of Franklin Street and the Downtown Partnership then offered ashtray receptacles to businesses with the most cigarette litter using grant funding. A follow-up assessment just four months later found 3,538 butts, a significant decrease following distribution of the receptacles.
This month, TRU club members found 5,866 cigarette butts along sidewalks and in gutters, tree grates and flowerbeds.