Keep Temple Beautiful will be taking out the trash on Saturday when the first “Downtown Cleanup No Butts About It” day is held from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The group will be joining with local businesses, organizations and the community to clean up downtown Temple.

“A billion pounds of trash are spread over Texas highways every year, and of that, 130 million are cigarette butts,” said Tanya Gray, executive director of Keep Temple Beautiful.

Volunteers can register at the Visitor Center in downtown Temple where they will receive the necessary items for picking up trash. Local restaurants will provide food and water for the volunteers.

Keep Temple Beautiful will be installing 20 ash receptacles at businesses and in downtown Temple to cut down on cigarette litter.

Free pocket ashtrays are being given away at the Keep Temple Beautiful office, Visitor’s Center and local Starbucks.

Cigarette butts are “the most widely littered item in America,” according to Keep Temple Beautiful.

The program will be focusing on Central, Adams, Main, First, Second and Avenue A.

Keep Temple Beautiful tested these six streets because they are considered high traffic areas and contain several locations where a person must stop smoking before they enter a public building, Ms. Gray said.

The team found more than 2,700 butts within these blocks. The committee will count cigarette butts again in January to determine the outcome of the effort.

The 2nd Street Emporium is one of the stores that will be affected by the cleanup.

“I would say every morning we sweep up 15 to 20 cigarette butts and also pick up cigarette packs,” said Sally Myers, co-owner of 2nd Street Emporium.

Ms. Myers believes that amount of trash in front of her door is from the two bars that are beside it. The ash receptacles would help most if one was put in the alcove of her store, she said.

“We’re trying to change attitudes about cigarette butts being trash,” Ms. Gray said. “People need to be more mindful about what they are doing.”