PORTLAND, Ore. — Environmental and public health groups say cigarette butts are the most littered item on earth, making up nearly 40% of all collected litter.   Worldwide, that adds up to four and a half trillion cigarette butts disposed of on the ground and in our oceans.   Today's Everyday Hero has found a way to reduce the number of butts on Portland streets, helping the environment and Portland’s homeless.   -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   For the past three weeks, Chelle Hammer has been paying cash for discarded cigarette butts, to the tune of about $2 an ounce, or two bucks for each one hundred collected.   “One day Chelle came up with her cart, put out her little table and her scale, put up a little sign that said she was buying cigarette bucks,” said Tyrone Grove.   Grove figured he'd try it himself.   “Found out it was pretty lucrative,” Grove said. “I mean, I could go out in a couple hours and make 30, 40, 50 bucks. Easy.”   Hammer, who worked for Amazon from 1998 through 2011 before starting her own company (and subsequently getting laid off this past summer), has been helping the homeless near her house at McCormick Pier under the west end of the Steel Bridge for decades.   “These guys are my neighbors, and it’s important to me to help my neighbors,” she said. “And so, that’s what I do.”   Her support came in the form of grilled cheese sandwiches, cookies and soft drinks.   But with the help of her church, a GoFundMe site, PDX Butts4Butts, and her own money, she hit on the idea of paying people for cigarette butts, which are made of a cellulose acetate, a form of plastic that’s slow to decompose.   “I was thinking, what can we do because there’s a lot of trash but not a lot of cans and bottles because of the redemption program. So I thought, what would be the next logical thing, and I came up with cigarette butts,” she said.   In just three short weeks, she has collected, paid for and recycled more than 45 pounds -- or about 72,000 discarded cigarette butts.   “I collected a whole bunch of them,” said Dan Whitehouse. “I wanted to make sure the lady was serious, and she’s really serious.”   Whitehouse is a believer in the program.   And he's developed a strategy.   “I go to places where people gather, like bars, restaurants or waiting near train stops, because they don’t allow you to smoke on their stops,” Whitehouse said.   Hammer said the effort pairs with her and her church's philosophy.   They’re excited about it, yeah,” she said. “The two values that we have at the church and one of them is helping the homeless and helping other people, and the other is helping and cleaning the environment.”   The butts collected by Chelle Hammer are recycled by a company called TerraCycle and made into shipping pallets, plastic lumber and decking and, yes, ashtrays.

Absence of designated smoking areas, cigarette disposals render the policy inconvenient, creates litter It has been over nine months since U of T’s smoking ban was implemented. Announced in November, and implemented this past January, the ban was introduced with the intention of creating a healthier campus, away from the harmful effects of first and secondhand smoke. While the rule is meant to protect people’s health, it is ineffective as it currently stands.   Designated smoking areas   It would be a good idea to incorporate smoking areas on campus because they encourage people to smoke in a more secluded space, where non-smokers are less likely to inhale harmful smoke.   Unlike the university’s Scarborough and Mississauga campuses, UTSG does not have designated smoking areas. It is likely that administrators believe there is no need for such spaces due to the campus’ proximity to public streets, where people can legally smoke.   According to the campus policy, smokers must walk from their classes to off-campus areas to consume tobacco or marijuana. Most often, they congregate on the sidewalks of notoriously busy public streets such as St. George, Hoskin, and Harbord. These sidewalks are city property and do not fall under the university’s jurisdiction.   This affects all members of the UTSG community, both smokers and non-smokers. Smokers who have classes in locations such as King’s College Circle waste a lot of time getting to an off-campus sidewalk for a smoke break. This could affect their ability to get to class on time if they are scheduled back-to-back.   Students who live in residence may put their safety at risk by going to a public space alone for a smoke at night. Worst of all, because the ban gives smokers no choice but to light up on the street, passersby now routinely inhale more secondhand smoke on their walks between classes.   A solution that would accommodate everyone would be to designate smoking areas on campus, which would encourage smokers to get their fix in a safe and secluded area.   Cigarette disposal receptacles   UTSG used to have ashtrays, but ever since the smoking ban, there has been nowhere for faculty and students to responsibly dispose of their butts. Recently, I noticed that outdoor garbage cans around campus have begun sporting a sticker that suggest that cigarette butts are not permitted in the trash. These garbage cans are the only ones anywhere near campus. If cigarettes cannot be disposed of in the garbage, smokers who consume tobacco on the public streets beside campus are more inclined to throw them on the ground. The lack of places to discard cigarettes at the moment will lead to an eventual build-up of litter on public sidewalks, mere metres away from university buildings.   The university’s Mississauga campus is a prime example of positive change in terms of cigarette littering. Currently, the campus is working with a company called TerraCycle to “recycle waste from outdoor cigarette butt collectors on campus.” The project depends on smokers disposing of their butts in receptacles placed around campus.   TerraCycle receptacles would be useful at the downtown campus, as there needs to be a sustainable way for smokers to dispose of their butts.   This was U of T’s first year banning smoking, so it’s understandable that some of the details surrounding the ban have not been worked out yet. A compromise involving the installation of designated smoking areas and cigarette butt receptacles would benefit everyone. Hopefully, the university will reflect on the way things have unfolded since the ban, and move to accommodate all faculty and students.   Agata Mociani is a second-year English student at New College.

Broken bottles, plastic toys, food wrappers ... during a walk along the coast one finds any of these items, and more. In all that litter, there is one item more common than any other: cigarette butts.   Cigarette butts are a pervasive, long-lasting, and a toxic form of marine debris. They primarily reach our waterways through improper disposal on beaches, rivers, and anywhere on land, transported to our coasts by runoff and stormwater. Once butts reach the beach, they may impact marine organisms and habitats.   Most cigarette filters are made out of cellulose acetate, a plastic-like material that’s easy to manufacture, but not easy to degrade. The fibers in cigarette filters behave just like plastics in our oceans, the UV rays from our sun may break the fibers down into smaller pieces, but they don’t disappear. One solid filter ends up being thousands of tiny microplastics.   The Ocean Conservancy’s 2018 International Coastal Cleanup Report stated that 2,412,151 cigarette butts were collected worldwide in 2017. This is an increase from the 1,863,838 butts collected around the world in 2016.   Here’s what you can do about keeping those cigarette butts, lighters and cigar tips from spoiling our ocean:   •  If you smoke, don’t flick your butt! Place it in a proper receptacle. •  Organize cleanups in your local community. Make sure you document your findings with the Marine Debris Tracker App. •  Be an environmental steward in your own community. Spread awareness about cigarette butt litter. •  Worried about the smell from cigarettes in your pocket? Purchase a pocket ashtray! These trays can come in the form of metal boxes or vinyl pouches, fit in your pocket, purse, or backpack, and extinguish cigarettes until they can be properly disposed of in the trash. •  Recycle your butts! Although it is not common, there are a few places, like the City of Vancouver, and organizations, like TerraCycle, that will actually recycle your filters for you. Check to see if there any programs in your area.   The NOAA Marine Debris Program is the U.S. Federal government's lead for addressing marine debris.   Article and image courtesy of NOAA's National Ocean Service.

KAILUA-KONA — The search is on for volunteers to walk, swim, dive and paddle their way to cleaner beaches on the Big Island.

 

Saturday is International Coastal Cleanup Day, an effort to motivate communities around the world to save their oceans and shorelines from the trash that is currently polluting them.

On the Big Island, volunteers have several opportunities to participate in the worldwide cleanup.

 

Local group Keep Puako Beautiful is organizing its annual Get the Drift and Bag It cleanup at 25 various locations in South Kohala on Saturday, with the main cleanup headquarters set up at Hapuna Beach State Park.

 

The cleanup runs from 7:30-11:30 a.m., and participants can meet and sign up at the Hapuna Beach south pavilion.

 

In Kailua-Kona town, Jack’s Diving Locker and Big Island Divers are hosting an underwater cleanup dive at Kailua Pier from 8 a.m. to noon. The underwater cleanup is recommended to experienced divers, while participants who are not scuba certified are welcome to participate in the cleanup of shallow water through snorkeling, freediving and kayaking.

 

A Big Island resident for 40 years, Cynthia Ho, Keep Puako Beautiful’s site coordinator, has participated in every the annual campaigns in Kohala for International Coastal Cleanup Day.

 

“It needs doing,” Ho said. “I like my community, I like sharing the conservation effort with others and meeting like-minded people. It feels good.”

 

Volunteers can stay on site at Hapuna Beach, or break off to the other beaches along the coastline. Volunteers will regroup at Hapuna Beach at the end of the cleanup to weigh in and tally the trash collected.

 

Keep Puako Beautiful recommends volunteers to bring comfortable shoes, reef-safe sunscreen, food and water to the cleanups. Volunteers looking to clean up the trash in the ocean should bring their own gear.

 

“As far as water cleanup goes, they can snorkel in front of the beach and they can pick up a lot of stuff that way,” Ho said. “On shore, one woman told me she picked up 50 hair bands out of the sand at that beach.”

 

Ho said Keep Puako Beautiful’s Kohala cleanups will try to utilize anything that can be washed and reused. For example, the cleanups will use reusable grain bags donated from Big Island Brewhaus in Waimea and used coffee bean bags from Waimea Coffee Co.

 

Cigarette butts found through the cleanup can be separated from the other trash to be sent to the organization TerraCycle to be recycled into new industrial products, such as plastic pallets, and for the tobacco from the cigarette butts to be recycled as compost.

 

“We try to be a conscious as possible of not creating more waste,” Ho said.

 

Volunteers can sign up for the Hapuna Beach cleanup by emailing keeppuakobeautiful@gmail.com.

 

Free air tanks are available for certified divers at the Kailua Pier cleanup, and can be reserved by calling Jack’s Diving Locker at 329-7585 or by calling Big Island Divers at 329-6068.

KAILUA-KONA — The search is on for volunteers to walk, swim, dive and paddle their way to cleaner beaches on the Big Island.

 

Saturday is International Coastal Cleanup Day, an effort to motivate communities around the world to save their oceans and shorelines from the trash that is currently polluting them.

On the Big Island, volunteers have several opportunities to participate in the worldwide cleanup.

 

Local group Keep Puako Beautiful is organizing its annual Get the Drift and Bag It cleanup at 25 various locations in South Kohala on Saturday, with the main cleanup headquarters set up at Hapuna Beach State Park.

 

The cleanup runs from 7:30-11:30 a.m., and participants can meet and sign up at the Hapuna Beach south pavilion.

 

In Kailua-Kona town, Jack’s Diving Locker and Big Island Divers are hosting an underwater cleanup dive at Kailua Pier from 8 a.m. to noon. The underwater cleanup is recommended to experienced divers, while participants who are not scuba certified are welcome to participate in the cleanup of shallow water through snorkeling, freediving and kayaking.

 

A Big Island resident for 40 years, Cynthia Ho, Keep Puako Beautiful’s site coordinator, has participated in every the annual campaigns in Kohala for International Coastal Cleanup Day.

 

“It needs doing,” Ho said. “I like my community, I like sharing the conservation effort with others and meeting like-minded people. It feels good.”

 

Volunteers can stay on site at Hapuna Beach, or break off to the other beaches along the coastline. Volunteers will regroup at Hapuna Beach at the end of the cleanup to weigh in and tally the trash collected.

 

Keep Puako Beautiful recommends volunteers to bring comfortable shoes, reef-safe sunscreen, food and water to the cleanups. Volunteers looking to clean up the trash in the ocean should bring their own gear.

 

“As far as water cleanup goes, they can snorkel in front of the beach and they can pick up a lot of stuff that way,” Ho said. “On shore, one woman told me she picked up 50 hair bands out of the sand at that beach.”

 

Ho said Keep Puako Beautiful’s Kohala cleanups will try to utilize anything that can be washed and reused. For example, the cleanups will use reusable grain bags donated from Big Island Brewhaus in Waimea and used coffee bean bags from Waimea Coffee Co.

 

Cigarette butts found through the cleanup can be separated from the other trash to be sent to the organization TerraCycle to be recycled into new industrial products, such as plastic pallets, and for the tobacco from the cigarette butts to be recycled as compost.

 

“We try to be a conscious as possible of not creating more waste,” Ho said.

 

Volunteers can sign up for the Hapuna Beach cleanup by emailing keeppuakobeautiful@gmail.com.

 

Free air tanks are available for certified divers at the Kailua Pier cleanup, and can be reserved by calling Jack’s Diving Locker at 329-7585 or by calling Big Island Divers at 329-6068.

(FOX 2) - When a staff member approached Christopher Jacobs about recycling cigarette butts, he thought it was a dig at him. After all, the executive director of Ypsilanti’s Downtown Development Authority counts himself among the few that still partake.   Instead, the supposed tongue-in-cheek comment was actually a recommendation that Jacobs thought fit the city’s progressive culture rather well.   “We brought it before the board in August, reached out to businesses - almost all of the bars and restaurants said they struggle with cleaning up butts in front of their stores,” Jacobs said. “People seemed to be excited, so we said ‘let’s pilot the program’.”   That program involves placing 12 recycling containers intended for cigarette butts at highly trafficked areas around the city. The simple gesture is good optics for the city, but it also represents a burgeoning trend among cities to engage best practices for business and environment.   “I think we may be one of the first communities,” he said. “I don’t see it in many of the other communities. To divert that material from landfills and to produce something good from a bad habit - we really didn’t need to talk about it much (at city council). Everyone said ‘wow, that’s a great idea. It’s really cheap. It’s low-hanging fruit’.”   As governments enact more restrictions on single-use plastics, environmentalists have turned their heads toward cigarette butts. The orange piece of paper and plastic might be minuscule, but the numbers behind them certainly aren’t.   The Cigarette Butt Pollution Project reports that every year, 376 billion cigarettes are consumed in the U.S. alone. Worldwide, that number climbs into the trillions. Now imagine 65 percent of those cigarette butts getting tossed on streets, in rivers and every other crack of pavement they it can fit in.   More than just an eyesore, those butts don’t biodegrade. They’re made of a polymer. As the waste has spread, the cigarette butt has been dubbed the “The most littered item in the world.” And with that acknowledgement comes a surging campaign to recycle the waste.   “I love our mission, it’s the whole mission-driven eliminate-the-idea-of-waste goal,” said Lisa Pellegrino, the strategic partnerships manager and consumer engagement with TerraCycle. “It’s an anti-littering message that focuses on the toxic nature of waste.”   TerraCyle isn't one of the new kids on the recycling block - but it's message of eliminating “the idea of waste,” rather than just the waste itself may be. The symbolic charge they hope generates material progress comes through in their cigarette butt campaign.   They are focusing on the positive reinforcement of recycling cigarette butts, rather than using negative messages meant to shame smokers who discard their waste.   Pellegrino said they have seen a reduction of nine to 12 percent of litter in the vicinity of their recycling containers. From there, the butts are processed or ‘pelletized’ and refit for other plastic products like ashtrays and shipping pallets. For Detroit and Grand Rapids, two Michigan cities that have used TerraCycle’s services, they have collected 60,750 and 1,219,728 butts respectively.   But, officials remain skeptical to their effectiveness.   “It all depends on whether people use them,” Jacobs said. “With conventional cigarette butt disposals, not everyone snuffs out their butts and puts them in there. Some communities might be skeptical. But with stories like these, TerraCycle might bring on a few more communities.”  

Keep Golden Isles Beautiful and the University of Georgia Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant were out on the pier on St. Simons Island on Friday afternoon for their monthly “Pier Day,” where they raise awareness about the harm that cigarette butts can cause the environment.   The two organizations have been partnered in an effort to deter cigarette smokers from tossing their butts on the ground since 2014.   Lea King-Badyna, executive director of Keep Golden Isles Beautiful said she and Katy Smith of the UGA Marine Extension got rid of over 2,000 cigarette butts the first time they worked together on the pier.   “You haven’t lived until you’ve crawled on your hands and knees picking up cigarette butts,” King-Badyna said.   At their display table setup, the two handed out two different types of ashtrays to passing smokers or people with smokers in their lives.   One of the ashtrays fits comfortably in a car or chair cup holder, and the other is a keychain model that can fit in a pocket.   Smokers and non-smokers alike stopped by the table to pick up the handy trinkets as well as to hear more about the cause of the two organizations.   “Even if people don’t smoke, we can talk to them about the toxic effect that littered cigarette butts have on the environment,” King- Badyna said.   The cup holder ashtrays were provided by the nonprofit organization Keep America Beautiful, which KGIB is affiliated with. Keep America Beautiful was also involved in the installation of the mounted cigarette butt receptacles on the light poles next to the entrance of the pier.   One odd-looking item stood out on the display table — an ashtray made from recycled cigarette butts was provided by the company TerraCycle.   King-Badyna said that Terracycle was the only company that would take all the cigarette butts that they collect to reuse them. She said that since they started sending their butts to the company, other local businesses such as Maggie Mae’s and Castaway’s Lounge have done the same.  

Two trade groups are encouraging recycling efforts at convenience stores nationwide with a new effort—“The Value of Can and Bottle Recycling.” The new guide from the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) and the Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) offers tips and suggestions for improving current practices, how to effectively communicate the goals of the program with staff and customers, as well as a checklist to help retailers reduce contamination in their recycling bins. “We frequently survey consumers and retailers about various issues. In one recent survey, we found that more than half of all convenience store customers say they’d like to see more recycling at their local convenience store,” says Carolyn Schnare, director of strategic initiatives for the Alexandria, Va.-based NACS. “In-store recycling is more commonplace, but recycling at the pump is where 70 percent of American drivers say they dispose of trash from their vehicle while refueling.” Additionally, about half of all Americans shop at a convenience store each day, contributing to 165 million transactions daily, which presents an additional opportunity to promote recycling. “Consumers want to be good environmental stewards,” said Robert Budway, president of Washington, D.C.-based CMI, in a statement. “And having the ability to recycle aluminum beverage packaging away from home is a win-win for can manufacturers, convenience stores and consumers. We believe that increasing away-from-home recycling of aluminum cans will benefit the entire recycling system.” For customers, recycling at a convenience store needs to be just that—convenient. “When we asked consumers what they do with recyclables if there isn’t recycling available at the gas pump, almost half said they will carry it in their car until they find a recycling container,” says Schnare. “With 70 percent of customers cleaning out trash from their cars when fueling up, having a clearly identified recycling bin will give them a convenient place to easily sort their trash and their recyclables.” The new guide is intended to help retailers improve their recycling efforts specifically at the fuel island. It provides guidance for retailers that sell fuel, which includes of the 153,000-plus convenience stores in the U.S., about 122,000 locations that sell fuel. “We are working with a small group of retailers, industry suppliers and sustainability experts to identify additional resources, partners and programs to encourage recycling of traditional and nontraditional items at convenience stores,” says Schnare. “We also work with Keep America Beautiful to offer stores free cigarette butt disposal receptacles and with Terracycle to give them an avenue to recycle the cigarette butts after collection.” Implementing recycling opportunities at convenience stores can be challenging given the different municipal regulations and waste company procedures that can widely vary. “For larger convenience companies with multiple locations, every store’s location may have a different set of rules on what can and cannot be recycled, which makes it challenging for a company to execute consistent operational procedures,” says Schnare. “Also, contamination is often cited as a challenge—a fineable offense in some cities—which is often a result of customers not recycling properly.” However, there can be an upside in dealing with the varying waste infrastructures. Depending on the municipality and hauler contract, there is a potential for cost savings by reducing the amount of waste picked up if proper recycling is diverted into the correct waste stream, according to Schnare.

The receptacles will collect butts to be shipped for free to Terracycle, a company that helps connect hard-to-recycle waste with recycling programs funded by brands, manufacturers and retailers around the world. The cigarette waste will be melted into hard plastic that can be remolded into new products, like industrial plastic pallets and benches, while the ash and tobacco are separated and composted, according to the company’s website.

The receptacles will collect butts to be shipped for free to Terracycle, a company that helps connect hard-to-recycle waste with recycling programs funded by brands, manufacturers and retailers around the world. The cigarette waste will be melted into hard plastic that can be remolded into new products, like industrial plastic pallets and benches, while the ash and tobacco are separated and composted, according to the company’s website.

CARE (Cups Are REcyclable): Styrofoam cups are collected, compressed and sent to the Dart Container Corp., which reprocesses Polystyrene (PE No. 6) into picture frames, crown molding and other products.

• TerraCycle: Trenton, N.J.-based company collects discarded cigarette butts and turns them into plastic shipping pallets, park benches, picnic tables and other products.