Monaco’s Stars’n’Bars has launched its own“”Protect our sea” initiative, offering to exchange a container full of discarded cigarette butts for one 25cl beer or soft drink.

According to Kate Powers, Stars’n’Bars co-founder: “It is important to raise awareness… on the environmental impact of cigarette butts because not a day goes by without seeing someone throw a cigarette butt on the ground or in the drain. People do not realise that cigarettes thrown directly into the drain go straight into the sea, without going through a sewage treatment plant. It’s up to all of us to make a difference! “
 
A cigarette contains more than 4,000 pollutants, including heavy metals, nicotine, and pesticide residues. Once at sea it takes 15 years to decompose. One butt can pollute up to 500 litres of water. Despite these worrying figures, nearly 1,000 cigarette butts are thrown on the ground per second in France and 4,000 billion a year in the world.

According to Louise Svensson, in charge of the environmental division: “The initiative was immediately successful on social media with more than 1300 shares (in two days), and since the beginning of the campaign, already several customers have come to trade “butts for beverage.”
 
Stars’n’Bars hopes that other institutions will join the initiative.