CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A community group is cleaning up cigarette butts around Charleston as part of the “No Butts About It” campaign.
Janet Gagmon, a volunteer with the group, said tossing cigarette butts on the ground is the same as littering.
“Cigarette smokers think it’s okay because they’re small, but it’s not okay. It accounts for a very large portion of the junk that goes into the river,” she said Friday at a cleanup event that began at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel parking lot in downtown Charleston and extended down Capitol Street.
Gagmon is a former smoker who admitted how bad it is for the environment.
“I understand these butts are not biodegradable, so I’m probably just picking up from myself from years ago,” she said.
The movement was started by Jim Strawn of Highland Hospital in an effort to raise awareness for this kind of pollution.
Strawn said their plan is to collect as many cigarette butts as possible throughout the year, with hopes of filling an entire fish tank.
The group stressed this is not a non-smoking campaign to get smokers to try and quit.
“It’s just a clean up event,” said Gagmon. “I understand that there’s not a lot of pressure and I like that aspect too.”
Gagmon said she’s hoping smokers will at least give a second thought as to where they dispose their butts as opposed to on the streets.
Upcoming cleanup events will be from noon to 1 p.m. on Aug. 10 at Slack Plaza and from noon to 1 p.m. Aug. 12 and 17 at Davis Park.
Members of the Stormwater Department will be handing out gloves, a plastic bag for the butts and a free T-shirt for those who participate.
Strawn said the campaign will end with a press conference next month where they’ll give an update and display all the collected butts they picked up.