We’re celebrating the end of another fantastic Butt Blitz campaign!

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Communications Coordinator, A Greener Future

And that’s a wrap! Our seventh Butt Blitz campaign has come to an end. Between September 1st and 30th, 189 volunteers from across Canada came together to take action on cigarette litter.

*Photo courtesy of Butt Blitz volunteer, Kyra Simone*

Why Blitz the Butts?

Since 2014, A Greener Future has picked up more than 2.7 million cigarette butts from across Canada, making it the most common piece of litter found at our cleanups.

A Greener Future has narrowed its focus on cigarette litter through its Butt Blitz campaigns because of the big threat these small pieces of litter pose to the environment. Cigarette butts are made up of ~12,000 plastic microfibres, which can be shed when left in the environment, contributing to the growing microplastic pollution we’re seeing in our local waterways.

Cigarette butts are also made up of harmful chemicals which can leach into and pollute our water.

Fall 2021 Butt Blitz

Volunteers were organized into teams based on their location and were tasked with the goal of picking up 5,000 butts each throughout September.

Overall, our volunteers picked up a whopping 552,000 cigarette butts!

This is a massive achievement resulting in 442,000 litres of water being saved from contamination. All of the cigarette butts picked up during this campaign will now be sent off to TerraCycle for recycling.

See the dashboard below for a more in-depth look at our results!