Jaime Clare, a Bachelor of Environmental Studies student, wrote a report last year called ‘Casual Contamination: Chilliwack’s Butt Problem’ for a course and the idea was picked up by the City of Chilliwack. Cigarette bins for cigarette butts saw their first recycling bin installed on this past Friday. It’s all part of a new program launched by the Downtown Chilliwack Business Improvement Association, in partnership with Ruth and Naomi’s and the City of Chilliwack.
Jaime is very busy with multiple environment projects related to water quality, gender-based initiatives, as well as conservation of Oregon forest snail. We know that Jaime has a list of innovative ideas that will turn into real projects that will help local communities!
Recycling bins for cigarette butts coming to downtown Chilliwack
Folks at Ruth and Naomi’s shelter will get paid to empty bins, money for recycling cigarette butts
Article written by Jenna Hauck, The Chilliwack Progress, January 8, 2023
Folks will soon see fewer butts around Chilliwack… cigarette butts, that is.
A total of 30 small recycling bins will be installed throughout downtown Chilliwack specifically for smokers to toss their cigarette butts into.
It’s all part of a new program being launched by the Downtown Chilliwack Business Improvement Association (BIA), in partnership with Ruth and Naomi’s (RAN) and the City of Chilliwack.
An added bonus to having cigarette butts removed from the streets is that residents living in one of RAN’s shelters will reap the financial benefits of it. Not only will they be paid to empty the bins regularly, but they will get money from sending the butts off to be recycled.
The idea to do something about the issue came about when University of the Fraser Valley student Jamie Clare wrote a report last year called ‘Casual Contamination: Chilliwack’s Butt Problem’ for a course called Climate Action: Design as part of his environmental studies degree.
“I chose cigarette butts because they’re a small, seemingly innocuous item that’s littered so commonly that most people don’t even consider it littering,” Clare said. “I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve found cigarette butts in the forest in the middle of nowhere. Almost anywhere you can possibly go, you’ll find littered cigarette butts.”