ΓΟΠ-ing Day

(Cigarette Butt Beach Cleaning Day)

Everyone has seen them. Cigarette butts littering our roads, sidewalks, parks, playgrounds, streams and beaches. They’re the most common type of litter on earth. Cigarette Butts, while small in size, are a big environmental threat. Smoking related litter creates an unsightly mess.

Not only do cigarette butts degrade an area, they contaminate water supplies. Trillions of cigarette butts enter the water environment every year with potentially devastating effects on marine wildlife. They’re not biodegradable as the filters are made of a type of plastic and so persist for many years. Estimates of the time it takes for a cigarette filter to degrade at sea vary from 12 to 15 years.

They have been found in the guts of whales, dolphins, sea birds, fish and turtles where they can leach toxic chemicals. In an annual global survey, cigarette butts have been the number one item found for 20 years running in beaches. Worldwide, cigarette litter is the most common item found on beaches with millions being found all over the world on just one clean-up weekend.

The increasing amount of cigarette litter is due mainly to lack of awareness. Smokers can avoid littering the streets or beach by taking a portable ashtray butt bin when they go outdoors.

No butts about it :   “Hold On To Your Butt !”

On September 26, 2009 Arkadiko Horio will participate in this event .

We invite all who are interested and can make it, to meet at Arkadiko Horio’s beach, around 10:00 am. On this day, the same thing will occure in most of the beaches across Greece. We hope this will set a good example and for smokers to be more responsible about discarding cigarette butts on our village’s beach.

http://www.enet.gr/?i=news.el.article&id=77380

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Images from the clean-up