Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Mission Statement:
Our mission statement is to reduce the amount of cigarette pollution
on the campus of Stockton University while also recycling the waste
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Abstract
Statement of Need
Project Rationale and Justification
Reduce Pollution to the Environment
Keep the Campus Clean
Detailed Project Description
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Goals and Objectives
Terracycle
The Process
Cost/Rewards to Campus
Cigarette Butts and the Environment
Examples of Terracycle Being Implemented
References
Footnotes/Figures
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Abstract
Cigarette butts are currently the most littered substance and are
considered to be a hazardous waste. This littered item not only makes the
community look dirty but has also been linked to water contamination and
other aquatic problems. Cigarette butt recycling is a new wave of accessing
products that were previously considered trash and ended up in landfills.
Terracycle is currently the most successful program that is transferring not
only cigarette butts but other non-easily recycles materials into a
commodity. Programs like this are beneficial ways to help keep the
community clean and environment cleaner then we have in the past. As New
Jerseys green University, Stockton would easily benefit from the program
that Terracycle is promoting. Recycling the products that were once known as
non-recyclable reduces the amount of waste that goes to landfills and
promotes a healthy environment. As multiple locations have already
implemented this program, Terracycle has become known as a reliable
company. Plant management can easily reroute the butts they collect and
send them into the program.
Statement of Need
Cigarette butts are the most frequently littered items and comprise
38% of all U.S. roadway litter and 30% of the litter at transitional places. In
2009, Keep America Beautifuls Littering Behavior in America, gathered
information about cigarette butt littering in specific areas such as
recreational areas, bars and restaurants, retail, and hospitals. The
observations shown that the overall littering rate for cigarette butts in 65%.
The data found that when a cigarette is littered, 35% of the time dropping
with intent is the most frequent strategy followed by the flick (27%) and
the stomp (27%). Smokers are more likely to litter if the environment
contains any other type of litter, not only cigarette butts. Also, the findings
concluded that hospital sites have the highest littering rates followed by
recreation areas, bars/restaurants, and then retail locations (Keep America
Beautiful, 2010).
As Stockton continues to become more sustainable, the use of cigarette butt
recycling could be implemented to reduce the amount of litter found on
campus. Stockton has reduced the locations where cigarette smoking is
allowed however, cigarette butts are easily moved via wind and other
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Since the industry believes that cigarette litter is the sole responsibility
of the user, it is important to educate and have receptacles on sight to
reduce the amount of litter. Through the implementation of cigarette
recycling receptacles, the environmental impact could be greatly
reduced.
Keep the Campus Clean:
Stockton University is known as an innovator in sustainable practices in
New Jersey. It has led the way in the application of new and alternative
technologies to reduce both greenhouse gas emissions and the use of
fossil fuel. On campus, there are solar panels, geothermal heat pump
system and aquifer thermal energy storage project (ATES) which all
allow Stockton to reduce the campuss ecological footprint.
Stockton has 375 pairs trash receptacles on campus and around the
housing developments. Each pair consists of a blue receptacle, which is
for recycling, and a green receptacle, which is for trash. Providing the
campus attendees with proper trash receptacle has kept the area in
and around campus clean and litter free. However, even though the
campus has smoking areas, the campus is still littered with cigarette
butts from Flickers or individuals who disregard their surroundings
and throw cigarette butts wherever they please. Implementing a
cigarette butt recycling program on campus could greatly reduce the
un-appealing sight of discarded cigarettes found on the ground.
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receptacles are emptied once a month year round, they are almost
always completely full capable of holding; 6.7 gallons or about 8000
cigarette butts however many people still disregard the use of these.
Grounds staff spends approximately 2 hours every 2 weeks sweeping
up after cigarette Flickers.
Posting incentives can help raise awareness in the community, an
Active seasonal collection challenge where students could collect and
receive rewards by weight or count; every college student could use a
little extra beer money! Giving people a reason to pick butts of the
grounds, this sort of program can reach beyond the campus and into
the community, Stockton can have a collection drop off where locals
who may collect butts when walking along the roadways during their
daily commutes, litter that used to simply be walked over becomes a
commodity that can be turned into cash just like the 5 to 10 Cents
aluminum cans and glass bottles are worth in certain states.
Cigarette Butts and the Environment:
Cigarette butts have more than just a negative appeal when littered on
the ground but have a toxic impact to local fauna. There is no available
direct evidence studies, however when placing just a few cigarette
buds in a 10 gallon fish tank the resulting exposure resulted in death
for both Macro and Micro organisms within 24 hours, this was a study
that I have personally conducted when I was a highschool student.
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References
Smith, Elizabeth A., P. A. McDaniel, Covering their butts: responses to the
cigarette litter problem, 2011, Tobacco Control, Volume 20, 100-106
Keep America Beautiful, Key findings: cigarette butt litter, 2010, Litter in
America: Results from the Nations Largest Litter Study, www.kab.org
Barnes, R. L. (2011). Regulating the disposal of cigarette butts as toxic
hazardous waste. Tobacco Control, 20 Suppl 1(Supplement 1), i45-i48.
doi:10.1136/tc.2010.041301
Smith, Nathaniel, L. Jack, K, Aman, J. Brandon, Cigarette disposal
investigation and assessment, 2015, UBC Undergraduate Research, APSCTechnology Society, 1-55
Terracycle, Cigarette Waste Recycling Program, (2012). Retrieved from
http://www.terracycle.ca/en-CA/brigades/cigarette-waste-brigade.html ,
http://sustainability.tufts.edu/terracycle/
Bennett, J. (2014). Doctor wants B.C. to butt in on Vancouvers cigarette
recycling program. Retrieved from
http://globalnews.ca/news/1366861/vancouvers-cigarette-butt-recyclingprogram-drawscriticism/
Register, Kathleen (2000). Cigarette Butts as Litter - Toxic as Well as Ugly".
Underwater Naturalist" Bulletin of the American Littoral Society. Volume 25,
Number 2. http://www.cigarettelitter.org/index.asp?pagename=un
April 10, 2013. HackensackUMC Partners with Terracycle to Recycle the
Unrecyclable. http://www.hackensackumc.org/hackensackumc-partners-withterracycle-to-recycle-the-unrecyclable/
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Footnotes/Figures
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ounces/pounds
20
milliliters/liters
.12 oz
10ml
3.75 lbs
51 liters
1,000,000
375 lbs
500 liters
100,000,000
37,500 lbs
50,000 liters
10,000,000,000
3,750,000 lbs
5,000,000 liters
100,000,000,000
37,500,000 lbs
50,000,000 liters
470,000,000,000
176,250,000 lbs
235,000,000 liters
1,000,000,000,000
375,000,000 lbs
500,000,000 liters
5,608,000,000,000
2,103,000,000 lbs
2,804,000,000 liters
(one pack)
10,000
(one year's consumption for
one smoker)
(Number of cigarettes
smoked in the U.S. in 1998)