Clean Up for the Next Generation: Cigarette Butts Don’t Belong on Playgrounds

Clean Up Zurich’s Playgrounds – Let’s Kick Cigarette Butts (and More) Out! 🚭

🗓️ Date: Saturday, July 19th
🕘 Time: 10:00 AM - 12:00 AM (2 hours)
📍 Location: Spielplatz GZ Schindlergut (Located in: GZ Schindlergut - Zürcher Gemeinschaftszentren, Kronenstrasse 12, 8006 Zürich)
🧤 Hosted by: International Volunteers for WWF
🤝 In close collaboration with: stop2drop – an NGO raising awareness about cigarette butt pollution

Did you know that 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are discarded every year, with 75% ending up in nature — including places where children play? Add to that the growing litter of vapes and snus, and our playgrounds are facing a serious pollution problem.
That’s why we’re inviting you to join a clean-up day focused on removing cigarette butts, vapes, snus, and general trash from kids’ playgrounds in Zurich.

💚 What we’ll do:

• Clean up litter, especially cigarette butts, vapes, and snus
• Focus on public playgrounds used by children and families
• Record how many cigarette butts we find at each location
• Share the data with stop2drop, who will use it in their ongoing work with Swiss municipalities to advocate for smoke-free and nicotine-free playgrounds across the country.

🧰 We’ll provide:

• Latex gloves
• Clothespins (for safe pick-up)
• Paper bags
• Buckets
• Züri sacks

🧢 Please bring:

• A hat (optional, but helpful in sunny weather)
• A refillable water bottle to stay hydrated

Cigarette butts might seem small, but they’re incredibly harmful — polluting up to 1,000 liters of water each, and taking 10 to 15 years to break down into dangerous microplastics. Vapes and snus are adding new layers to the problem with their toxic residues and plastic components.

🌍 Whether you can spare 30 minutes or the whole morning, your help makes a difference. Let’s come together to make Zurich’s playgrounds safer, cleaner, and free of toxic waste — for kids, families, and the environment.

🌿 Let’s do something about it — together!

See you there! 💚