Every day, hundreds of cigarette butts are thrown on the ground in the urban environment. A significant part of them – at public transport stops, where smoking is not allowed. In order to promote public awareness about the proper management of cigarette butts, as well as to explain the consequences of improper actions, Ltd “Zaļā josta,” within the framework of the LIFE Integrated Project “Waste To Resources Latvia - boosting regional sustainability and circularity”, is implementing an environmental education campaign. During the campaign, the first large-format posters have been designed and placed at public transport stops to draw attention to the problems caused by cigarette butts.
At the start of the environmental education campaign, residents at 41 public transport stops in Riga are being actively informed about the composition of cigarette butts, the potential threats they pose to human health and nature, as well as the proper handling of cigarette butts. In total, more than 600 thousand residents were reached during the first two weeks of the campaign, promoting both overall public environmental awareness and the reduction of pollution caused by cigarette butts. The environmental education campaign will continue at public transport stops until autumn. In addition, large-format posters will be placed in various locations in Riga, explaining the proper handling of cigarette butts, which will be available for residents to view in the long term.
To make the campaign’s message easier to understand, each campaign poster is supplemented with a QR code inviting people to watch the educational short film “The Journey of a Cigarette Butt”. It shows the journey of a cigarette butt from a person’s hand to its entry into nature and reveals the long-term damage it causes to the environment.
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