Save the Butts – waste to value, is an engaging campaign that started in February 2022, that promotes awareness about plastic pollution, ocean conservation and behavioral change.

Thanks to more than 1,800 volunteers that have participated in different events and activations, we’ve been able to clean UAE public and private spaces from more than +500,000 cigarette butts, that will get transformed into a sustainable alternative to plywood, avoiding deforestation at the same time.

Thanks to our partners’ support we have been able to extend the awareness to schools and the community, reaching out to more than 2,500 people.

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.

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 commitment program.