DURING the recent islandwide cleanup on Rota, volunteers interviewed by Variety said they collected many cigarette butts and cigarette boxes.
“I was able to fill one bag with cigarette butts. They’re disgusting but we must pick them up otherwise they go to the ocean and, who knows, get eaten by fish…and we eat fish,” one of the volunteers told Variety in an online interview.
Rota Municipal Council Chair Jim Atalig, who was among the cleanup volunteers, agrees.
He hopes that smokers will properly dispose of their cigarette butts by throwing them into trash bins.
“Let’s keep our environment clean and healthy for our children and families as well as our communities and visitors,” he said.
He added that it is dangerous to just throw cigarette butts anywhere as they may cause a fire.
Every year, over 500 smokers and nonsmokers are killed in home fires caused by cigarettes and other smoking materials, making this one of the top fire causes in the United States, according to a report from the National Park Service.
The report states that most fires caused by smoking materials start on beds or furniture or in trash.
Rota Municipal Council members were among the volunteers who participated in an islandwide cleanup activity during the weekend.
