On Monday, May 15, Diboll SAY WHAT! (Students, Adults, and Youth Working Hard Against Tobacco) gathered at Old Orchard Park for a cigarette butt cleanup. Students at the butt cleanup were armed with gloves, bags, and red flags in order to collect, dispose, and mark where the cigarette butts were picked up. In just 30 minutes, the seven students collected over 100 cigarette butts near the baseball field and playgrounds at Old Orchard Park.
SAY WHAT! students conducted the Butt Hunt to bring awareness to the cigarette litter problem and to advocate for the City of Diboll being 100% smoke-free. One student was particularly shocked that many of the cigarette butts he found were across from the High School baseball field. According to Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights, “cigarette butts are the most commonly discarded piece of waste worldwide. Contrary to popular belief, cigarette butts are NOT biodegradable. Cigarette butt waste is a huge environmental issue but smoke-free policies can help dramatically reduce tobacco waste”.
The Tobacco Prevention & Control Coalition (TPCC) grant from Texas Department of State Health Services has the goal of preventing and reducing the harmful use of tobacco products in rural areas like East Texas, where tobacco-related health problems are more prevalent. The TPCC grant has a particular emphasis on preventing tobacco use among young people because according to the Centers for Disease Control, statistics show that each day in the United States, more than 3,200 kids under the age of 18 smoke their first cigarette.
For more information, contact Kayla Garris at 936-634-9308 or kgarris@angelinacoalition.org
