United against the abandonment of cigarette butts in the environment

This is the slogan of the awareness campaign against the abandonment of cigarette butts in the environment launched in 2015 by the City of Lugano in collaboration with the Azienda Cantonale dei Rifiuti (Cantonal Waste Company) and British American Tobacco Switzerland SA. The campaign was also endorsed by the Swiss Non-Smokers' Association, recognizing its educational value and its role in promoting respect for nature and the environment.

The posters displayed served to highlight spaces improperly used as ashtrays, encouraging people to respect them. In addition, actual ashtrays were distributed to citizens and visitors. These are pocketboxes, which are charming and useful recycled aluminum boxes offered by British American Tobacco Switzerland. Thousands of these boxes were distributed with the invitation to use them as pocket ashtrays when smoking outdoors — and not just outdoors.

Every day in Switzerland, 32 cubic meters of cigarette butts are discarded. Over the course of a year, this amounts to 11,680 cubic meters. This mountain of waste is created by millions of small, careless gestures. Cigarette butts may be small, and it may seem as though they don't bother anyone. On the ground, they are barely noticeable, except when they are piled up. However, just as cigarettes are harmful to health, cigarette butts are harmful to the environment — at least as much as industrial waste. A cigarette butt takes 2 to 5 years to decompose, releasing its many toxic substances. Cigarettes contain over 4,000 harmful substances, some of which remain in the butt: nicotine, benzene, ammonia, and polonium-210. This does not include the cellulose acetate that makes up the filter.

With this awareness campaign against the abandonment of cigarette butts in the environment, the City of Lugano, the Azienda Cantonale dei Rifiuti, the Swiss Non-Smokers' Association, and British American Tobacco Switzerland have committed to encouraging smokers to pay attention to a gesture that may seem harmless but has significant consequences for environmental quality. Not leaving cigarette butts in public spaces is courteous and civil — for others and for oneself.