HexaClean Day: young footballers collect 300,000 cigarette butts throughout France
14 May 2023
On Saturday, May 13, hundreds of young soccer players mobilized in 8 cities in France with the goal of collecting hundreds of thousands of cigarette butts during HexaCleanDay.
An eco-citizen initiative
Hexacup, the first recreational soccer app committed to the planet, is organizing a national soccer tournament called “L’Hexacup” for which participation fees are paid by doing an ecological action!
On May 13th and 14th, Hexacup and The SeaCleaners have teamed up to bring together young people and soccer for the benefit of the environment, with the first edition of the HexaClean Day.
The concept is simple: 8 cities, more than 1000 young people, and may the best collector win!
The winning city adds points to its team for the upcoming tournament.
A huge success
The young people not only contributed to cleaning up the environment by picking up cigarette butts, but they also made passers-by aware of the importance of not throwing these waste products into nature. By picking up cigarette butts, young people become aware that this harmless act is not a harmless one. And we can bet that they will not throw any more!
HexaCleanDay was supported by several higher education schools, such as ISG, ESG and AMOS, which relayed the action to their students. Professional soccer clubs also showed their commitment to the environment by giving away match tickets to participants. LOSC (Ligue1), FC Girondins de Bordeaux, Le Havre AC and Paris FC (Ligue2) encouraged the young generation to join forces and commit to the planet.
Beyond the success of this cleanup day, Hexacup and The SeaCleaners encourage youth to adopt responsible behaviors and to take care of our ecosystem in all aspects of their daily lives!
An act with a strong ecological impact
Let’s remember that each cigarette butt thrown on the ground pollutes 500 liters of water when it ends up in the seas and oceans.
In a few figures: there are 10 million cigarette butts thrown in nature every day in France (and 10 billion in the world).
This represents 25,000 tons of discarded cigarette butts in France every year. When we know that a cigarette butt can take more than ten years to degrade, we understand the extent of the problem.
This is why cigarette butts are considered as one of the most widespread and harmful waste for marine ecosystems.
They contain many toxic chemicals, including acetone, ammonia, cadmium, arsenic, nicotine, and polonium-210, which are released when they come into contact with water. These chemicals are potentially lethal to marine organisms, such as fish, crustaceans and marine mammals, which can ingest or be exposed to them.
So let’s reduce and educate the public about the impact of this waste on the environment and adopt more environmentally friendly alternatives, such as pocket ashtrays or better yet, reduce or quit smoking.
A big congratulations for this first edition to these numerous young people mobilized throughout France (Bordeaux, Paris, Lille, Toulouse, Marseille, Nantes, Le Havre and Lyon) for their efforts and their participation!
Two hours of collection for nearly 300 000 collected butts, that is to say 56kg, and as many butts that will not end up in the water.
