Media Release:17 September 2012
On Thursday, October 18th Australia is hoping for a Butt Free kind of Day.
It’s our first National Butt Free Day – when all of us can highlight the environmental threat posed by an estimated 7 Billion Butts being littered every year around Australia.
Yes – Seven Billion Butts!
Cigarette butts are Australia’s most littered item, consistently recorded by ‘Keep Australia Beautiful’ research* as being around 50% of the total number of items littered nationally every year.
The size of cigarette butts compared to larger litter items belies the impact of this widespread problem. Butt littering impacts include waterways pollution through stormwater drains, degradation of wildlife health and habitat, substantial yet largely avoidable daily costs in cleaning them up, and various other social, environment and economic impacts. But the thing that turns most people off is that they just look plain ugly.
“It's hard to believe that something so small can have such a big impact. We are all well aware of the health issues surrounding smoking, but less well informed about the environmental, social and economic impacts of butt littering,” said campaign spokesman John Phillips OAM.
“This may be only one day – but it is part of our year round stewardship to protect the Australian natural and built environment.”
Our Request: Help us spread the message…
We need individuals, businesses and organisations to register as a Supporter of Butt Free Day 2012, so they can access a range of educational & promotional materials.
To Register they should contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or phone Butt Free Australia on 08 8234 7255
Can you help us… to educate smokers that their Butt is a Big Thing – when you get that huge number being dropped as litter around Australia every year.
*The Keep Australia Beautiful National Litter Index is Australia’s only national, annual, quantitative measure of what litter occurs where and in what volume. Over 950 sites are visited twice per year to create an annual report on litter in each State & Territory that can be compared against the national average.
For Media Assistance, or to link your business to the campaign, please contact Mike O’Reilly, 0414 882 505; or email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Download a copy of the media release (1.4MB .doc) HERE
