Activists for the protection of the environment in Portugal collected some 650,000 cigarette butts and piled them up on Sunday in a square in central Lisbon during an action to raise awareness against this type of pollution.
“We asked everyone in Portugal to take part in this community project to draw attention to plastic pollution, because there is plastic hidden in cigarette butts and many people don’t know about it,” explained AFP Andreas Noe, a 34-year-old German at the origin of this initiative.
“A single small cigarette butt is a great example of how everyone can start to take action, not just on the issue of cigarette butts and litter, but also on ocean issues and ultimately climate crisis,” he added.
The NGOs and individuals who took up his challenge collected enough cigarette butts in one week to fill about forty plastic beer kegs, thus recycled for a new use.
They then dumped their contents on a tarpaulin to make a pile on which Andreas Noe climbed, equipped with a breathing mask to protect himself from the toxic products of these non-biodegradable cigarette butts.
This activist and surfing enthusiast settled in Portugal six years ago and then gave up his career as a molecular biologist to devote himself to the cause of the environment.
Two years ago, he had already collected about a million cigarette butts in two months.
“We want to put an end to this problem by encouraging people to throw their cigarette butts in the trash or in pocket ashtrays, anywhere except on the ground”, testified David Figueira, one of the participants in this project.
23/04/2023 19:35:29 – Lisbon (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
