Anti-litter agency gets grants

Keep Columbia County Beautiful is reaping the benefits of successful grant applications, and the county should be cleaner as a result.

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Coordinator Jenny Hinton said the county received two grants to support recycling and anti-litter efforts.

The county's initiative was awarded a $15,000 grant from the Department of Community Affairs and a $1,500 grant from Keep America Beautiful.

"These are the first two (grants) the county has ever won for recycling," Hinton said.

Hinton used the DCA grant to purchase an enclosed trailer full of portable recycling supplies, including folding metal racks with bags for recyclable items.

"We're going to call it our Mobile Recycling Unit," Hinton said. "We can take this to special events ... and people will be able to put their recyclables in there, like aluminum cans and plastic bottles, things like that."

Funds from the $1,500 Keep America Beautiful Cigarette Litter Prevention grant will be used to purchase more cigarette butt receptacles for county campuses and for 1,000 pocket ashtrays. The pocket ashtrays are small, heat-resistant packets that store used cigarette butts for later disposal -- instead of being thrown on the ground.

"Just to help keep cigarette litter to a minimum," Hinton said. "We know it is an ongoing problem. Cigarette butts do not decompose very well in the environment. This grant is to help try to keep those out of the environment and help us clean up a little bit."

Both grants require county officials to report back on a regular basis about the use of the funds and status of the projects.