VIA INO21 Challenge 1: Stop Littering With Cigarette Butts

To participate in this challenge it is required that you are a student at VIA University College Engineering and take part in the Innovation weeks in week 5 and 6.

Cigarette butts is the type of litter you find most of worldwide, both in the cities, the nature and in oceans. Although cigarette butts seem small and harmless, they contain plastic and many harmful chemicals and heavy metals, which pile up in the small filters.

Annually 6.5 trillion cigarettes are sold, equalling 18 billion being smoked every day. It is estimated that only 1/3 of cigarette butts worldwide ends up in a trash/garbage can or ashtray.

We don’t know how many end up on the streets of Aarhus, but one only has just to take a rest on a bench, look down and start counting. Aarhus Kommune has since 2015 made a yearly Epinion survey asking the residents about their conception of littering in our municipality – every year cigarette butts have ranked number two (after fast food packaging) as the type litter that bothers them the most. Number one has been fast food packaging – probably ranking highest because of the size difference, as butts are small and often neutral of colour.

Most cigarette filters are composed of cellulose acetate, a type of plastic. When tossed into the environment, they dump not only micro plastic, but also the nicotine, heavy metals, and many other chemicals they’ve absorbed. Recent studies found that the presence of cigarette butts in the soil reduces the germination success and shoot length.

It is estimated that picking up cigarette butts costs the municipality 2 DKK a piece, and they often end up places where city cleaning machines and brooms cannot get them. Therefore they often must be picked up individually by hand. 

Many studies and tests have been made as to how one can change the behaviour of smokers and have them butt their butt rather than flicking it onto the streets and nature.

Is it a question of nudging, city design, adaptation, information, or a new take on the matter? How can a city like Aarhus get rid of cigarette butts in our streets, urban spaces and/or nature?