An Overview Of Our Solution
There are 6 trillion cigarette butts produced each year and 4,5 trillion of them end up in nature. Its effect is devastating on our marine life – one cigarette filter contains more than 150 extremely poisonous toxins capable of contaminating 1000l of water and takes 15 years to disintegrate. Since the cigarette butts are made of plastic, the decaying filters contribute massively to the micro-plastic problem the world faces today.
In Estonia, we decided to tackle the cigarette butt problem.
The programme " 2 million cigarette butts" raised awareness about the impact of the cigarette butt on nature and the Baltic Sea. The highlight of the program was 19 of September when around 30 thousand children came out on one day to pick up 1,6 million cigarette butts to bring attention to cigarette butt problem and the pollution of the Baltic Sea.
- Population Impacted: 400,000
- Continent: Europe
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背景分析
Cigarette butts are made of cellulose acetate and contain several toxins. In water, they break down to microplastics and release toxins in the surrounding waters. Along the Baltic Sea, cigarette butts are making up to 67% (!) of all litter items found on beaches. Research has shown that the consequences of these toxins in water bodies are deadly for the fish and other marine life (Proctor, 2011).
A cigarette butt does not need to be thrown directly into the sea. A significant amount of marine litter comes from the urban environment: trash that is thrown on the street gets flushed down into drainage systems that take it directly to the sea.
25 per cent of adult smokers reported that they throw cigarette butts on the ground because they “think it is a normal way to dispose of a cigarette", according to a survey by Kantar. 75 per cent of respondents thought that cigarette filters are made of cotton or paper and its biodegradable.
描述您希望目标受众采用的技术解决方案。
We aim to reduce the pollution and contamination of the Baltic Sea by stopping cigarette butt littering through the sewage drainage system. Smokers throw their cigarette butts in bins instead of the sewer holes or nature. In this way, we avoid contamination and pollution of our Baltic Sea that comes from cigarette butts. One cigarette butt can contaminate up to 1000 litre of water, which means that every and each cigarette butt counts to save marine life, biodiversity and eventually also peoples health.
We also introduce the handy trash pocket for cigarette butts to use it on the way. The trash pocket is the solution for smokers to handle cigarette butts in case there is no bin around.
描述你的行为干预。
In order to change the social practice, we need to work on three elements:
1) information and competence. We shared the information and raised awareness about the impact of the cigarette butts and gave smokers clear instructions on what we expected them to do
2) meanings - we needed to change the old social habit and make throwing a cigarette butt in the bin or carry the trash pocket as the new social norm. So far smokers had adopted the move how to throw cigarette butt as far as possible in nature or find some sewer hole. Throwing to the sewer hole means very often responsible behaviour because it guarantees that cigarette butt doesn't cause any fire. We showed that it's not responsible at all
3) to guarantee that there are everywhere the bins for cigarette butts where to throw them. If you have a cigarette butt in your hand, you want to get rid of it very soon. The bins have to be located in the city in the places where people used to smoke and they cant be too far from each other.
In order to implement a new social practice, we need to work on all these aspects.
Our target group were not only smokers. We targeted all citizens. As smoking and throwing away the cigarette butt is the automated activity, it means that the friends and colleagues will draw the attention of the dangerous habit and stop smokers from littering.
使用的行为杠杆
如需要，请更详细地解释你是如何使用杠杆的。
We didn't point fingers and didn't shame anyone. The overall tone was very positive and it was easy to join the campaign. We created a conversation around the habits and acceptable behavior.
We provided information about the impact of cigarette butts on marine life and also information on how smokers can accidentally contribute to the pollution of the sea. The fact was new to the majority of the population and raise a lot of discussions.
As smoking is very often a very automated activity, we designed carefully the architecture of messages and activities to be the right time in the right place.
描述项目的实施。
We planned a complex programme that included:
1) In the capital city of Tallinn, we painted messages around sewage drainage holes "The sea starts here" in Estonian, Russian and English language.
2) In cooperation with the City Government of Tallinn around 30 voting bins for cigarette butts were installed in the city. Smokers were able to vote for funny things with their cigarette butts and the transparent wall of the bin allowed to see which get more "votes"
3) Around 30 influencers of Estonia made a 15 minutes cigarette butt cleanup challenge and shared their thoughts and results in social media.
4) In cooperation with the basketball association, all the young basketball players were invited to clean up public basketball yards from cigarette butts ( where they don't suppose to be)
4) The highlight was country-wide cleanup where all the schools and kindergarten were invited to pick up cigarette butts on 19 of September. The children were invited to come out individually because of Covid-19. At the end of the day, record 1,6 Million cigarette butts were collected by children who share shocking pictures in media. The best school and kindergarten were awarded the school concert by the most famous musicians in Estonia.
5) The President and Prime Minister of Estonia participated in the cleanup action and picked up cigarette butts.
6) The communication and media campaign. The media provided the media space pro bono.
描述项目的主导者。谁在主导项目实施?
The implementation was led by the dedicated World Cleanup Day team in Estonia. However, the programme was a big cooperation project where every party had to fill their part. The most important role was played by children and youth who picked up cigarette butts and raised the awareness of the problem.
The team engaged schools and kindergarten, young sportsmen, environmental activist, young influencers, but also city governments, prime ministers and even the president. The success came through positive collaboration and belief to change.
分享参与解决方案开发和实施的关键合作伙伴。
The Ministry of Education helped to reach the schools and kindergarten. The Ministry of Environment helped with covering the budget. The city government helped to find the sewer holes to paint and install the voting bins for cigarette butts, with the following maintenance. The Prime Minister and the Government Office participated and picked up the cigarette butts to raise awareness. The campaign raises the debate about what to do with collected cigarette butts and also about the responsibility of producers. The first companies appear who provided mobile solutions for cigarette butts.
谁采用了期望的行为，采取的程度如何? 解释一下你如何测量行为变化的。
We evoke the discussion around cigarette butts. Now there are much more people who know the problem and they are ready to stop their friends or colleagues if they want to throw the cigarette on the ground. For example, one influencer wrote in his blog how he influenced his colleague to pick up the cigarette butt that he was thrown to the environment. We don't have any survey with numbers, however, we have reason to believe that there are the wave of first innovators who started the new social norm.,
项目是如何影响水污染的?请详细说明并包括相关的测量方法。
We believe fewer cigarette butts were thrown to sewer holes or nature in general that ended up with lower pollution and contamination of the Baltic Sea. However, after the first campaign it's too early to celebrate the immediate change. Behavioural change and social norms take time to take root and the programme should continue. We are going to map the hotspots in the city before the campaign and after to measure the change. We also going to cooperate with marine scientists who steer the pollution of the Baltic Sea.
您的解决方案如何促进平等(包括种族、性别、民族、社会阶层/收入，或其他)?
The programme was equally targeted to everyone, including youth, race, ethnicity, mother language, social class or others.
环境是如何受益的?
The cigarette campaign helped to raise awareness about the plastic problem in general. It also applies other types of waste.
可持续发展如何得到促进?
It helped to preserve the life below water and on land, preserve biodiversity and contribute to reducing climate warming.
可持续性:描述你的解决方案的经济可持续性。
The messages around the sewer holes are painted with permanent colour and it last for years. The bins were added to the regular waste management system of the city and didn't add many extra costs to the city. However, the communication campaign should continue and the project depends on some grant funding and government subsidies.
投入产出:实施这些活动的成本是多少?与你上面的结果相比，你的结果如何 这投资吗?
The budget in total was less than 50K euros and consisted of the cost for the communication, materials and project management. The results were amazing if to compare the budget with the result. The media reach and engagement was very high.
如何能将这个解决方案成功推广在其他地方?
All the elements of the solution are easily replicable to other countries. The programme doesn't cost much, its more about concerted effort and wise architecture of the campaign and messages.