The job of counting cigarette butts might sound about as low as work can go, but it fits right in for a group that got its start taking the place of a defunct street-sweeping machine.

"It did seem like the natural next step," said Roberta Sciulli, of the Committee to Clean and Beautify Ambridge. "The one thing members complained about most was the number of cigarette butts in some areas, like at the park-n-ride on Duss Avenue."

And the first step in addressing the problem was assessing its extent.

"We did an official initial count" of discarded butts in six key sites in town, Ms. Sciulli said. They are now awaiting delivery of six smokers' urns for those sites.

After the urns -- long-necked metal stands with tapered mouths for ashes and butts and buckets inside for waste collection -- have been in place for a while, committee members will do another count to see if the urns have helped.

One urn will be placed at the park-n-ride and the others on Merchant Street, near its intersections with Fourth, Eighth, 11th, 14th and 24th streets. Those were identified as "transition points," where smokers often have to extinguish cigarettes before entering public buildings.

The urns were purchased through a $1,500 grant from Keep America Beautiful Inc. The committee has also bought a number of "pocket ashtrays," little butt containers similar to the squeeze-open plastic change purses popular 20 to 30 years ago. Committee members are handing them out to smokers.

Keep America Beautiful is sponsoring similar programs in about 200 communities nationwide in one of its major initiatives for the year.

Ms. Sciulli said the committee does not want to harass anyone.

About the most abrasive step in the campaign is a "Keep Your Nasty Butt Off My Sidewalk" sign in the window of her family's business, Mikush Maytag.

"We are definitely interested in partnerships," she said, which could include helping businesses buy urns of their own or possibly having them sponsor urns in high-traffic areas.

Meanwhile, the committee, which was organized when the street-sweeper bit the dust in 2006, is continuing its Sunday afternoon cleanup campaign on Merchant Street.

The committee also is responsible for the new stone fountain in P.J. Caul Memorial Park at Merchant and 11th, and is working on flower baskets and other efforts to spruce up other entry points to the town.