It's interesting how when you smoke cigarettes (which I did) that you're able to rationalize flicking the cigarette filter on the ground as if, somehow, it doesn't actually qualify as litter.
Well, apparently, there's a Dutch startup called Crowded Cities that aims to combat this issue.
DailyMail.com: The bizarre project to teach CROWS to clean up city streets by collecting cigarette butts in exchange for treats
- Crowded Cities: Our Story
In the Netherlands every year more than 6 billion cigarette filters are tossed onto the street. It’s easy to toss, but it’s not easy to pick them up. Since each filter takes 12 years to degrade we realized it’s time to take action. Through observation we concluded crows are the smartest around us to reach any spot in the city. What if crows can bring cigarette filters to one of our Crowbars to exchange the filter for food? This is how our adventure started.
Follow me @cognoscere
- Article Credits: By Cecile Borkhataria and Cheyenne Macdonald For Dailymail.com
- Crow Image Source
Great move, I hope they are able to come up with something fast to aid the issue
Sounds like animal cruelty. How about a stiff fine.
That's an interesting way to put it and sometimes people out a no littering sign near smoking places too which is weird
I have to agree with you on the fact that smokers seem to forget that cigarette butts are litter. But training crows to retrieve them, that is really strange. I didn't realize that crows were so smart. Thanks for sharing!
This is incredible! I just hope that the crows stay safe in all of this! Like they don't pick up any still-smoldering butts or choke on any of them by accident. Yikes! If it works and the crows stay safe, then it would go a long way for the environmental burden (among many others) that Big Tobacco has on our world! Thanks for sharing @cognoscere. Resteemed!
i hope they don't start smoking lol :D cool pic
Toxic!! Good post to remind people to butt out elsewhere or quit altogether.