MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Newtown Macon is helping to keep the city clean by recycling cigarette butts. Jene Bragg of Newtown Macon says 20 cigarette butt receptacles were installed in downtown Macon in July.

GETTING PAID

Bragg says the recycled butts will generate funds for the district. “We will turn these into money,” Bragg said. The cigarette butts that are collected will be packaged and sent to a recycling company, TerraCycle, who pays for recycled butts by the pound. The funds collected from this project will go back into the Business Incentive District Fund, benefiting businesses in downtown Macon. “We will also donate $1 per pound of recycled butts to ‘Keeping America Beautiful'”. Bragg also says that the business incentive district fund paid for the recycle bins with excess funds raised by downtown business owners. She says the bins are tamper-proof and emptied monthly.