Helping communities to bin butts

Interested in how this bin got here and how you can get involved with similar projects? 

 

Conservation Volunteers Australia’s Nature Ambassadors, with the support of local councils all across Australia, are responsible for the maintenance and monitoring of cigarette butt ballot bins just like this one.  

 

You can be a Nature Ambassador, too

 

Nature Ambassadors are conservation volunteers who take action to address litter pollution like cigarette butts by working with communities to reduce plastic at the source.  

 

Nature Ambassadors are passionate about protecting our precious marine ecosystems. CVA Nature Ambassadors take action on plastic pollution by dealing with it through source reduction and proper disposal of cigarette butts and other plastic waste.

 

 

How can I get involved?

 

Apply to become a Nature Ambassador today

Learn more about the Nature Ambassadors program

Join us for a local beach clean up

 

Why does binning our butts matter so much?

 

This Cigarette butt bin is part of a three-year national CVA project called #SeaToSource which aims to reduce the amount of plastic litter that reaches our creeks, rivers and oceans and is funded by the Australian Government.

 

#SeaToSource focuses on where litter starts its journey, encouraging us all to find ways to eventually make beach clean-ups a thing of the past. By installing this butt ballot bin with a ‘Question of the Month’ we are encouraging people to do the right thing and – Bin your Butt!

 

Cigarette butts continue to be Australia’s most littered item with a staggering 6 billion butts found in our natural environments each year, despite a decline in the number of smokers. Discarded cigarette butts are buoyant, which means they easily wash into storm drains and are carried into rivers and eventually into the sea. A common misconception is that cigarettes will decompose, when in fact cigarette filters are made from non-biodegradable plastic ⎻ toxic and hazardous to the marine environment.

 

One-third of chemicals that leach from cigarette butts are acutely or chronically toxic to marine life, resulting in impaired digestion and poisoning. Cigarette butts can get into the stomachs of fish, birds and sea turtles, with serious consequences.

 

#SeaToSource volunteers have collected data on the litter we collect around Australia to discover major trends and provide data for CSIRO’s Marine Debris Research.

 

This graph demonstrates the great proportion of cigarettes (16% of total plastics) found in and around Perth waterways from 2020-2021:

 

 

 

Got a funny, topical or provocative idea for ‘Question of the Month’?

 

Submit your question here.*

 

*Your question must have two clear answers, please.

 

#SeaToSource is a project supported through funding from the Australian Government.