Multiple campus organizations and entities at CSUSM have come together to hold an annual cigarette clean­-up on campus to highlight the toxicity of tobacco on campus.

The fifth annual Cigarette Butt Cleanup will take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday, April 22 and is co-­hosted by the Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Prevention Committee, Safety, Risk and Sustainability Services, Sustainability Advisory Committee, Facility Services and Student Health and Counseling Services.

Supervised by Dr. Romero, Assistant Professor of Kinesiology, The Cigarette Butt Cleanup project is a volunteer-­based event that involves approximately 80 students, with friends and family members encouraged to join the effort. All volunteers will receive a free t­shirt and lunch for participation.

Through this event, co­-coordinators Chrystal Williams and Nhu-­Y Nguyen emphasize their mission to maintain a clean atmosphere and environment within the campus community.

“Building upon the founding goals of the event … we have realigned our objectives of this event to create environmental awareness of cigarette butts as the number one littered toxic waste on the planet, to gain advocacy for smoke-­free environments and to promote environmental health and sustainability on our campus,” said Williams and Nguyen.

The event offers an opportunity for students and faculty to get involved in a community that is devoted to environmental health as well as sustainability.

Since the first Cigarette Butt Cleanup event in 2012, more than 25,500 cigarette butts have been collected on campus. This year, volunteers of the project are aiming to beat the previous records with an all­-time high collection.

For more information or to sign up to volunteer for the event, email Chrystal Williams or Nhu-­Y Nguyen at [email protected]. Be sure to check out the project hashtag #KickToxicButts on Instagram for interesting facts about health, statistics, sneak peeks and updates of the event.