Rochelle Archibald is the founder and executive director at A Greener Future, an organization that is all about picking up junk for cleaner waterways and lakes.

Rochelle is the quintessential example of somebody who turned her hobby into a business or, in her case, a not-for-profit. Even on trips for work in her previous employment, Rochelle would spend her free time picking up litter and post the cleanup results on social media where she received support and encouragement. Eventually, when her work contract came to an end, Rochelle decided to follow her passion for cleaning up into an not-for-profit adventure instead. Soon enough, A Greener Future gained sponsors and became incorporated, growing well enough to gain cleanup projects in Portugal, Spain, The Bahamas, The United States and, of course, Canada. We’ve also created two flagship events that help define what A Greener Future is all about. We recently ran our third annual Butt Blitz, which is a Canada-wide cigarette butt cleanup. We have volunteer coordinators in cities coast to coast that rally volunteers to pick up butts, counting as they go, and then send them all into TerraCycle to be recycled. This year we picked up a staggering 186,000 cigarette butts and handed out 520 pocket ashtrays! By cleaning up butts already on the ground and raising awareness of the damage they cause we hope that eventually smokers will realize the environmental and health concerns related to cigarette butt litter.