After sifting through 400 pounds of cigarette butts, mulch, leaves and other trash collected on campus, members of Project SmokeLess created a display of debris that stood in front of the HUB-Robeson Center yesterday.
“That is insane. I would have never thought that there would be that much,” Michelle Lee (junior-advertising) said while looking at the plexiglass showcase of all of the cigarette butts that were separated.
The butts were sorted from the debris the Office of Physical Plant collected during the week of March 31 through April 4.
In addition to the display, Project SmokeLess, a student organization with a mission to reduce smoking and improve the health of students, spent two hours yesterday picking up cigarette butts on campus. The pick-up took place at central campus locations where many cigarette butts are usually scattered across the sidewalks and landscape, such as the HUB, Willard Building and the Forum, said Stephanie Barnett (junior-biology), a member of Project SmokeLess.
Student members of the organization spent nearly 10 hours sorting through the 400 pounds to pick out the butts that went in the display, said Joe Schwork (junior-information sciences and technology), co-leader of Project SmokeLess.
“We are hoping that seeing this presses a few buttons with students and faculty,” Schwork said.
Along with the display, there was a banner with information about the impact of cigarette butts and smoking on campus.
“The purpose of the display and collection is to demonstrate the ecological and economical impact that smoking has on our campus,” said Linda LaSalle, adviser for Project SmokeLess.
The banner reported that 18 percent of cigarette butt litter flows through storm drains and into local bodies of water like rivers and streams.
It also reported that the Office of Physical Plant spends about $200,000 every year to clean up cigarette butt litter on campus.
“When you see someone flick one cigarette butt, they don’t realize the magnitude that it can have,” Project SmokeLess member Jessie Clippard (junior-biochemistry and molecular biology) said.
She added that the group wants students to be more aware of the problem.
“I think people are really surprised by how much there is, and they are realizing that it’s pretty disgusting,” she said.
