Congratulations to all at Huakailani School for the awesome job that you are doing with your "Plant Your Butts Here" campaign! Keep it up. We are so very grateful for your service and the work that you do to care for the 'aina! Judy Cramer, Executive Director Youth Service Hawaii -----------

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

2009 - 2014 Adopt-A Block Celebrating 5 Years

In 2009, Huakailani held its first Adopt A Block in September 2009.

The Adopt a Block is an Official City and County Program and our adoption of Hekili Street is posted on two permanent street signs at each end of Hekili Street.

In September 2009, we filled 11 bags of trash from Hekili Street.

In January 2010, we noticed how a significant amount of trash on the street were cigarette butts and learned about the negative effects of cigarette butt pollution . In the 2009-2010 school year, in just 6 months time we removed 4,241 cigarette butts.

Flash forward to May 2014 and you see Huakailani still diligently holding 4 clean ups a school year and removing cigarette butts from the area.

At the May 2014 clean up, we collected just 1 bag of trash and over a 10 month period of time found
1, 878 cigarette butts. That is 2, 161 cigarette butts less than the school year total from last year.
* Note: 1/2009 Stat is for only 6 Months. 5/201 Data is for 10 months.






Congratulations Huakailani School for Girls on a successful five years and many more to come.

We are making a difference and being the change we want to see!

Mrs. B.  brought the program to the school in 2009 and has been the lead coordinator for past 5 years. She now passes the "Adopt a Block" coordination onto Ms. Stivers in 2014-2015.  Of course, she will continue to be an Adopt-a-Block Volunteer.


Ara and Mrs. B - Adopt A Block Volunteers for 5 Years!

Do the planters make a difference?

Planter Graph

Why do people litter butts?

Only 10% of cigarette butts are properly deposited in ash receptacles-the least likely item to be placed in a receptacle.¹

Why do many smokers litter? Smokers discount the impact. A 2008 survey of over 1,000 smokers found that 35% toss five or more cigarette butts per pack on the ground.¹ Because a cigarette butt is small, smokers tend to overlook the consequences of littering.² Cigarette litter research in Australia found that many smokers:

  • Don’t believe littering their cigarette butts is inappropriate behavior. Some believe they’re acting responsibly by dropping cigarettes to the ground and stepping on them to extinguish them.
  • Consider dropping butts into gutters or storm drains a safe way to extinguish a cigarette. ³
  • Blame their littering on a lack of well-placed bins for cigarette butts. Over 80% of smokers said they would properly dispose of their butts if suitable bins were available.

Too few ash receptacles. One of the strongest predictors of cigarette butt littering is the number of available ash receptacles, either as stand-alone or integrated into a trash can. For every additional ash receptacle, the littering rate for cigarette butts decreases 9%. Unfortunately, only 47% of observed sites have an ash or ash/trash receptacle.²

Litter and cigarette butts are already on the ground. Smokers are more likely to litter if the environment contains any type of litter, not just cigarette butts. In fact, 77% of individuals in an intercept survey report that they thought cigarette butts were litter, but litter already on the ground is a strong predictor of cigarette butt littering.²

Most cigarette littering happens at “transition points.” Tobacco products comprise 30% of litter at transition points.² These are areas where a smoker must extinguish a cigarette before proceeding, such as outside retail stores, hotels, office buildings, before entering beaches, parks or other recreation areas, and at roadside rest areas, parking lots, bus shelters, and train platforms. Messages about cigarette butt litter and ash receptacles at transition points are an important catalyst for changing behavior.

From: http://preventcigarettelitter.org/why_it_matters/misconceptions.html