During the garbage collection supervised by the Carrefour jeunesse-emploi (CJE) in the Matane region during the summer, allowing some twenty young people between the ages of 18 and 29 to harvest 2,358 pounds on the banks. The river and the Matane River, during six chores, a waste particularly discouraged the participants, unable to overcome and surprised by the extent of this invisible pollution: cigarette butts.

"It's a type of garbage they've found everywhere, and they have not been able to fully pick it up, so much so that some of the smokers in the group have begun to reduce their cigarette consumption and think about a way to to pick them up, for example in a pocket ashtray, "said Sylvie Dubé, of the CJE Matane region, in charge of the waste collection activity organized during the summer in collaboration with the Mission 100 tons. The latter, born last year in the province, encourages this kind of chores throughout Quebec, especially to reduce the amount of plastics encountered in the oceans, which could exceed the number of fish by 2050, according to information transmitted by the biologist Lyne Morissette, specialized in the conservation of marine ecosystems. several solutions could be considered. In Europe, for example, states are considering how to push the tobacco industry to cover some of the costs of managing and cleaning up this waste, as well as the costs of raising awareness.   For its part, the City of Montreal has entered into a partnership with TerraCycle, a company specializing in recycling. On the spot, the program Mégot Zéro, defended by the Society for Action, Education and Environmental Awareness of Montreal (SAESEM), consisted in installing several ashtrays recuperators in the public space, attached for example to the electric poles. In the metropolis, 74,000 cigarette butts were collected on May 3, 2019 during a chore.   During the summer, councilor Matane Annie Veillette had recalled that the City was interested in receiving citizen projects as part of its green fund, which could finance for example the installation of cigarette ashtrays in the center. city, to prevent them from ending up in the pipes and the environment.