One hundred appointments in Italy, ten in Sardinia, to remove over 50,000 cigarette butts equal to 200 kilograms from the ground.
The ambitious goal, to celebrate the day of the environment on the weekend of 3 and 4 June, belongs to the voluntary organization Plastic Free Onlus.
The aim is, among other things, to make citizens and smokers in particular aware of the correct disposal and the risks associated with throwing butts on the ground. Volunteers in action on Saturday 3 in Castelsardo, Stintino and Sestu, Sunday 4 in Cagliari, Elmas, Oristano, Tresnuraghes, Guasila, La Maddalena and Olbia.
«In Italy it is estimated that 14 billion cigarette butts end up in the environment every year – declares Luca De Gaetano, president of Plastic Free Onlus -. Inside each are 4,000 chemicals, many of them toxic and carcinogenic, including arsenic, formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide and nicotine. These toxins seriously damage marine ecosystems and represent a risk even for the little ones who, unknowingly, can put a butt left on the ground in a park or on a beach into their mouths.
According to an estimate, 65% of smokers do not properly dispose of butts, which end up in rivers, the sea and on the beaches. Mistaken for food, they are also swallowed by birds, fish, turtles and other marine animals, which can even die due to toxin poisoning or suffocation.
Furthermore, the nanoplastics contained within them have a negative impact on the food chain. Suffice it to say that the quantity of fine particles produced by a locomotive are equal to those released by 5 cigarettes in the same period of time.
«In a few years, thanks to our 250,000 volunteers, we have removed over a million cigarette butts from the environment during the many initiatives on the national territory - continues the president De Gaetano - A subject that is very close to our hearts and that we have included in the Plastic Free motion presented to the Chamber on May 30, where we ask for the creation of smoking areas to respect the environment and people, resources for organizations and associations to counter the phenomenon with controls and awareness as well as the tightening of fines for transgressors ».
(Unioneonline/L)
