Hold On To Your Butt!
Cigarette butts are the #1 most littered item in the world, having 4.5 trillion butts littered every year worldwide, and 3 billion littered in the San Francisco Bay Area alone. Cigarette filters look like paper, but they contain 12,000 strands of cellulose acetate, a synthetic microplastic that is non-biodegradable. They also include 7,000+ chemicals, at least 250 of which are harmful for soil, water, humans, and ocean and terrestrial wildlife; they include arsenic, nicotine, and heavy metals like lead, cadmium, chromium, and mercury. Moreover, if those cigarette butts are not disposed of properly in time, they will eventually get washed by rainwater into the ocean, where they are picked up at beach cleanups after they have leaked all of their horrible contents into the ecosystem.
Working with the Surfrider Organization, my i2 project will be to install 44 total cigarette buttcans up and down Van Ness Ave and in the Haight-Ashbury area to help them in their mission of protecting the ocean, and providing a proper method of disposing of and recycling cigarette litter.
