Goumbook's Save The Butts Initiative
Volunteering: Cleaning up discarded cigarette butts by engaging with individuals and companies, working together to convert waste into a value-added material.
What is the Save The Butts – Goumbook's waste to value sustainable initiative
‘Save the Butts – Waste to Value’ is the first sustainability initiative run in the UAE that adopts a Circular Economy approach to environmental pollution, by converting cigarette butts into a value-added material.
We engage with community members to clean the environment by collecting cigarette butts which are then recycled into valuable manufacturing material.
In an authentic, hands-on, and interactive way ‘Save the Butts‘ shows people the value of their impact, connects them to the natural world, and helps develop a sense of belonging to their local community by equipping them with the mindset and tools to tackle a real-world problem in a sustainable way.
Supporting sustainable local startups.
According to The World Health Organization (WHO) and its published report – Tobacco and its environmental impact- “Since the 1980s cigarette butts have consistently comprised 30–40% of all items picked up in annual international coastal and urban clean-ups”
Some facts about cigarette butts:
- Worldwide, around 4.5 trillions of cigarette butts are littered in the environment every year.
- They will take around 10-15 years to decompose as most cigarette filters are made of plastic fibers (cellulose acetate)
- There are more than 7,000 chemicals in a cigarette and many of these chemicals are themselves environmentally toxic, making the cigarette butts a hazardous waste.
- Cigarette butts are 95% plastic, making them big plastic polluters.
- The Dubai Municipality collected 400,000 cigarette butts from the beaches in 2017
You can join Save the Butts whether you are an individual, school, work in a company or want to sponsor the campaign.
- Youth & Schools participation: this is a great opportunity for the youth and school students to get involved to clean up the environment, and put the hours in to count towards their community service.
- Corporate partners participation: the perfect way to involve your team in your sustainability agenda, whether you do a clean up or join the annual membership program.