Butts Out

Nobody likes a litterbug, especially when the litter is cigarette butts found in places where children hang 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 the place up, but raise decision makers’ (and the community’s) awareness about this issue!

HOSTING THE EVENT:

• First, your chapter should 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 recreation department.

• Decide who you’d like to share your findings with. What decision maker will care and have the power to improve the problem? Invite this person or people to the clean-up.
• Choose a date and recruit as many people as possible for the butts clean up. The more people the better!
• Have flyers and The 84 Promo Card (Chapters can order for free. Use the order form in the Chapter Toolkit) on hand the day of the clean-up so that everyone knows that this is more than just an environmental issue. You can even have people sign a petition you draft or ask them to contact elected officials to raise awareness about this problem.
• Have all your clean-up supplies ready on the day of your event, and get started!
• Make sure to have plenty of chapter members on hand the day of the event to direct in the clean-up, distribute gloves, or stay near an info table.
• End the clean-up with a thank you to participants, a presentation of the butts collected, acknowledgment of the decision maker(s) present, and something fun like refreshments.

After the clean-up, keep the cigarette butts you collected in a closed, clear container. You can also share them with other decision makers to increase awareness about the problem. Even if you toss out the butts, make sure to take lots of pictures to submit to decision makers and the parks and recreations department to show them the extent of the problem. Not to mention what a service you did by cleaning up the park!

Chapter members needed: 8+

Supplies: clear trash bags, gloves; The 84 fact sheet and The 84 Promo Card as handouts

optional: refreshments, petition sheet, and pens
Online resources: go to the petition page to see how to create a petition.

Prep time: 2 to 3 weeks

Wiki Document: 

the84.pdf