SBMA and its Heaviest Butt Campaign
SUBIC BAY FREEPORT – The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has launched earlier this month the Ecology Center’s Heaviest Butt Campaign as part of the agency’s thrust to rid of this premier Freeport of cigarette butt wastes.
The Heaviest Butt Campaign has gone viral within just 48 hours after being posted on Facebook, reaching six million people, getting 46,000 shares, 31,000 likes and 20,000 comments from users worldwide.
Under the said initaitve, SBMA will team up with a local firm which will conduct tests on the possible recycling or upcycling of cigarette butts collected by clean-up crews.
“We are very happy that our campaign has gone viral and is catching the attention of a lot of people. We are hopeful that the study in which these cigarette butts will be used on, would turn out positive as well,” said SBMA Chairman and Administrator, Atty. Wilma T. Eisma.
Butts all over The Heaviest Butt Campaign was conceptualized in response to the observation that cigarette butts are the third most common item collected during the yearly International Coastal Cleanup in Subic Bay.
Statistics show that there are about 4.5 trillion butts littered worldwide every year.
Cigarette butts cannot be recycled because of the smell and the toxins they contain such as lead, arsenic and cadmium.
Some studies claim that it takes 5 to 10 years for cigarette butts to decompose.
In the meantime, they contaminate the soil and water.
Butts to blocks, bricks SBMA Ecology Center has partnered with a local company which has designed their own machine for litter or garbage recycling and upcycling.
The cigarette butts collected through the Heaviest Butt Campaign shall be given to this company as materials for testing and study to see if it is possible to remove the smell and the toxins so that these butts can be upcycled into bricks or hollow blocks.
Ecology Center is collecting 20-60 kilograms of cigarette butts for the said study.
War on Waste, Straw Sucks
This campaign is part of SBMA’s bigger program dubbed as War on Waste.
SBMA is also launching the Refuse Single Use, which is a campaign against the use of disposable plastics or one time use plastics, and Straw Sucks which is a campaign against using plastic straws and promoting the use of alternative materials such as bamboo or metal straws, or not to use straws at all.
Eco-friendly Subic “We hope that with these campaigns, there will eventually be behavioral change among stakeholders in order to promote environmental responsibility,” said Eisma.
It aims to strengthen partnership and collaboration with the local community in keeping a clean and healthy Subic Bay Freeport Zone as the place of choice to live, work, and play.”