The City Council of La Laguna has initiated a campaign aimed at raising awareness among smokers to dispose of their cigarette butts in bins rather than littering the streets. This initiative seeks to eradicate the issue, backed by statistics revealing that over 5 million cigarette butts are retrieved from the sewage system annually.
Through a video shared on social media, it is highlighted that 3 million cigarette butts are specifically extracted from the drains in the central area alone, which corresponds to an impressive weight of 1.27 tons.
The video features the account of an employee from Teideagua, the service’s concessionaire, who describes how discarded cigarette butts eventually make their way into the sewer system. When rainfall occurs, they are washed into the nearest gullies and ultimately flow into the sea over time.
Mayor Luis Yeray Gutiérrez emphasises that the intention of this campaign is not to “demonise any group within the population,” noting that “many individuals behave in a responsible manner” by using bins for their cigarette waste.
