Members of Blue Zones, and a task force created to help reduce cigarette litter in downtown Klamath Falls, emptied their new receptacles on Main Street for the first time on Friday to see if people were using them.   Merritt Driscoll, executive director of Blue Zones, counted 332 butts collected a week after the nine metal bins attached to lampposts were put in place. While the old pots for cigarettes were still being used, too, she was happy to see less litter on the streets.   The receptacles are the latest step in a grant program aimed to combat the leading cause of litter in the United States: cigarette butts.   Blue Zones, in partnership with the city of Klamath Falls and the Klamath Falls Downtown Association, was awarded a $10,000 grant. The funds went toward purchasing the receptacles as well as an awareness campaign.   Before the cigarette bins were placed, the team did quarterly clean ups, picking up cigarette butts in cracks in the sidewalks and along the curbs. The team did a cleanup in July before placing the bins and collected 5,254 butts. In July 2019, the team collected 8,362 butts.   Driscoll was encouraged to see cigarette butts in each of the receptacles she emptied. Still, the bins weren’t full after a week in place, so she plans to wait longer between checks in the future.   She said group focused the initiative on the downtown business corridor because it’s a hot spot for shopping, eating and smoking. Part of the motivation behind cleaning up the downtown litter is to increase community pride.   “When you see litter on the ground, it doesn’t conjure up a sense of pride,” she said. “We want to clean up, starting in our downtown, and from there we can move to other areas.”   Three extra receptacles are available for other businesses who want them outside.   Driscoll plans to do another cleanup in November, at the end of the grant, to see if the bins decreased the amount of litter in the streets. Blue Zones will send the collected butts to Terracycle where they will be recycled into plastic products such as shipping pallets and ash trays.