Activity 14: Butts Out!

Cigarette butts in parks and playgrounds are not only an eyesore, but set a bad example for young children. Here's your chance to not only clean up your community, but also to raise people's awareness about this issue!

STEP 1 -Which park do you want to clean?: Decide on a local park or playground to clean up. It can even be your school grounds. Make sure you get permission from your school principal or local parks and recreations department.

STEP 2 - Recruit: Choose a date and recruit as many people as possible for the butts clean-up. The more people the better!

STEP 3 - Call to action: Have flyers and The 84 Promo Cards on hand the day of the event so that everyone knows that this is more than just an environmental issue. You can even have people sign a petition that you create or ask them to contact elected officials to raise awareness about this problem.

STEP 4 - Be prepared: Have all your clean-up supplies ready on the day of your event, and get started!

STEP 5 - The more, the merrier: Have plenty of Chapter members ready on the day of the event to instruct volunteers, distribute gloves, or stay by an info table.

STEP 6 - Celebrate your accomplishment: End the clean-up with a thank-you to participants, a viewing of the butts collected, and something fun such as refreshments. After the clean-up, consider keeping the cigarette butts you collected in a closed, clear container. This can be a powerful visual to increase awareness about the problem. Take pictures to send to decision makers or the media.

STEP 7 - Report back: Post pictures and a description of your activity on your Chapter page on The84.org to get points and attention!