Dozens of volunteers cleaned up tens of thousands of cigarette filters in West Friesland today. They participated in the national campaign ‘Plastic PeukMeuk’ to make smokers aware that throwing cigarette butts on the street is bad for the environment. This is how things are poisonous to fish and can one cigarette butt can pollute eight liters of water.
In Hoorn, Medemblik, Enkhuizen, Andijk and Wervershoof, among others, the volunteers went through their legs to clear the butts.
The action day was a success; for example, more than 22,000 butts were removed from the streets in Hoorn. In Enkhuizen 15,000 cigarette filters were cleared and in Medemblik 14,000 fewer cigarette butts are on the street. More than 3,500 copies have been cleaned up in Andijk.
One of the ‘butt packers’ is Judith van Duijne. She used to smoke herself and also threw the cigarette butts on the street: “I never thought about how harmful it is. There is still plastic in those filters, but also other harmful substances such as nicotine.” she told prior to the promotion to NH Nieuws.
Ashtrays
All butts collected are sent to a company. Here, the filters are compressed in the form of ashtrays, so that fewer butts end up on the street.
It is not yet known how many butts have been collected nationwide.
