We had a lot of coverage of our highly-successful cigarette butt buy-back event at the 2013 West End Car-Free Day on Denman Street.  We have had enquiries from as far east as Ontario and as far south as the State of Georgia.  I think that we can make traction with this … please pass on the link ot our petition to BC residents in your E-Mail contact list.  (Our petition can be found at http://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/province-of-british-columbia-please-implement-a-deposit-system-for-cigarette-butts?share_id=UAgrbxdWlo&utm_campaign=signature_receipt&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_petition)

Thank you to all of the volunteers who came out to clean the streets, make popcorn, recruit volunteers and deal with the nasty cigarette butts!  As always, we could  not have done it without you!

Please checkout these on-line news stories:

BC1’s “Top Story” (the bit starts at roughly 15 minutes and 50 seconds in):  http://globalnews.ca/video/653297/top-story-june-18

CBC:  http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/06/16/bc-cigarette-butt-return.html

The West End Cleanup conducted a very successful experiment on Sunday, 16 June, using our $500 Vancouver Foundation/Gordon Neighbourhood House Greenest City Grant to buy-back cigarette butts.  We used up the entire $500 in 2.5 hours and raised an additional $146 to top-up the fund and provide more proof that a deposit system could work.

Thank you to the volunteers who came out and worked their butts off (pun intended) and to the dozens of people who picked up and redeemed butts for cash.  And a special thank you to Gerry Martin and Geoffrey Howes, General Manager and Board Chair respectively of United We Can; they promoted the hell out of this event amongst their clientele and we could not have done it without them!

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Don’t forget to sign our petition at

Interview on – On The Coast – 14 June 2013

Since we started out in May 2007, one thing has stood out above all other types of litter … the lowly cigarette butt.  While small in stature, their sheer numbers are overwhelming.  One “snapshot” of the commercial streets in catchment of the West End Business Improvement Association estimated that there were over 25,000 butts lying on those approximately 17 blocks.  That’s quite a number of butts, when you add them up (and that was only the commercial streets)!

Please  take a look at this video from “Keep Britain Tidy” … while a bit exaggerated, it does get the point across that these little butts, when added up, create a huge problem  for our streets and the environment in general.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jci7x1JFwmg

On Sunday, 16 June at West End Car-Free Day, we are going to be using a $500 grant (awarded via Gordon Neighbourhood House as part of the Small Grants and Greenest City Grants programs) to buy-back cigarette butts.  Our hope, through this experiment, is that we can prove that discarded cigarette butts would be picked up and turned in for cash (just like beverage containers) if there were a deposit placed on cigarettes at point of purchase (again, just like beverage containers).

We are offering one penny per butt – the equivalent of $20 per pound – for dry butts turned-in to our booth on West End Car-Free Day.

You can read about this initiative at the following sites:

http://www.straight.com/life/386166/cleanup-group-aims-help-west-end-butt-out

http://metronews.ca/news/vancouver/696683/a-penny-for-your-cigarette-butts-vancouver-group-proposes-deposit-program/

http://www.vancourier.com/news/free+days+horizon/8492845/story.html

Initially, we thought that maybe it would take a few events over the summer to disperse the full funds of the grant; based on feedback that we have been getting, it seems that it is going to be an overwhelming success.  Our case will only be more solid should this happen.

We have created a petition at Change.org; it calls upon the government of BC to implement a deposit on cigarette butts so that they would be picked up by “binners” and cease polluting our streets.  Please sign the petition here:

http://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/province-of-british-columbia-please-implement-a-deposit-system-for-cigarette-butts?share_id=UAgrbxdWlo&utm_campaign=signature_receipt&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_petition