Ban the Butt
I'm convinced the fastest way to eliminate and prevent all litter is to begin with a cigarette butt. Why?
Because even though cigarette butts are the #1 littered item -- 4.5 TRILLION worldwide each year -- to most people they are invisible. Unless you're a dedicated litter-picker you probably never even notice them. The photo below shows cigarette butts picked up by me on a *clean* Florida public beach in a half hour.
According to Bill Nye, the Science Guy, cigarette butts are the “worlds single biggest litter problem.” This isn't about getting smokers to stop smoking. It's about stopping smokers from littering. It's pathetic. There are even cigarette butts littering the scenic overlooks in our National Parks.
Cigarette butt litter is unacceptable. If we can get smokers to stop flicking butts and we work together to BANish the existing butts from our streets, parks and beaches it will be easy to eliminate the rest of the more visible litter. Ban the Butt.
Most smokers don't think of pitched butts as litter. They would never throw a soda can or fast food packing from their window but think nothing of flicking their butt. Many think cigarette butts are natural and that they'll just go back to the earth when left on the ground. That might have been true when filters were made from cotton, but they're now made from plastic and filled with carcinogenic chemicals that create lethal litter. WHY do we continue to allow and accept the “worlds single biggest litter problem” to exist?
If we can eliminate the most common, most toxic and most invisible litter on the planet, all the rest of the larger, visible and unsightly litter will stand out and be much easier for everyone to notice and eliminate.
Smokers: You are more important than you know. We need YOUR help. Litter prevention is literally in your hands!
What do you think? Do you agree eliminating cigarette butts is crucial to overall litter prevention? If you agree, let's share ideas of how to accomplish this. Would love to hear from you and work on this together. Contact me at [email protected] or connect on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram. Let's make cigarette butt litter a thing of the past. Ban the Butt!
#TogetherWeCan #TwitterLitterAway #BanTheButt #ButtBan
