Thirty new downtown “Sidewalk Buttlers” are standing ready to help prevent cigarette butt litter in downtown Fredericksburg.   Fredericksburg’s Clean and Green Commission and the Rappahannock Regional Solid Waste Management Board have partnered to acquire the free cigarette buttlers from Keep Virginia Beautiful to provide the public an easy way to dispose of their cigarette butts.   Cigarette butts are the most frequently littered item, and their filters don’t biodegrade because they’re made mostly of plastic. If dropped on the street or sidewalk, they can be washed into storm drains and end up in the Rappahannock River and beyond where they can harm aquatic life.   Fredericksburg’s Parks, Recreation and Events Department received 30 buttlers last year from KVB, which were placed in the city’s parks. The city’s Public Works Department staff has installed this next round on sidewalk trash receptacles primarily along Caroline and William Streets. They replace the old “butt buckets” the Commission sourced and maintained as part of their ongoing “Butts Are Litter Too” campaign.   “The downtown butt buckets served their purpose to help reduce cigarette litter, but they were labor intensive and needed to be replaced regularly,” said Robert Courtnage, Commission chairman. “Our new Sidewalk Buttlers are a more attractive and more permanent solution to help curb cigarette litter.”   Clean and Green Commission interns will empty the buttlers, and the butts will be weighed and recycled via TerraCycle.   Littering is also a criminal offense in the city, and is strictly enforced by the Fredericksburg Police Department.   “A cigarette butt that is tossed on the sidewalk could cost you up to $2,500, a conviction of a Class 1 misdemeanor, lost wages, and court costs,” said Joe Young, Fredericksburg’s watershed manager. “That’s a pretty expensive cigarette.”