RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A subsidiary of one of the nation’s largest cigarette makers is teaming up with a New Jersey company to reward do-gooders for cleaning up cigarette litter.

Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co. is funding a national recycling program through TerraCycle Inc. called the Cigarette Waste Brigade. The maker of Natural American Spirit cigarettes is owned by Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Reynolds American Inc.

After sending in the collected cigarettes butts, people over the age of 18 will get credits that can be donated to various charitable causes.

TerraCycle will then recycle the filters into plastic pellets used to make shipping pallets, railroad ties and park benches. The paper and tobacco also will be composted.

A 2009 Keep America Beautiful study found that cigarette waste accounted for 38 percent of all U.S. roadway litter.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)