The institutional initiative, which contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals, is executed through the UCSC Scientific and Technological Nucleus.
“UCSC sin Collillas” is the name of the project that, through the execution of various stages, seeks to reduce the environmental impact of cigarette residue on the San Andrés Campus. The initiative is part of the Scientific and Technological Core Program and contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) “Responsible Production and Consumption”, “Underwater Life” and “Life of Terrestrial Ecosystems” (numbers 12, 14 and 15, respectively).
The plan considers the execution of different stages among which are: the awareness of the University Community about the environmental damage of cigarette butts through informative talks and participatory activities. A study will also be carried out to determine an estimate of the amount of cigarette butts on the Campus (soils, access roads, buildings). The implementation of a “pilot for cigarette butt collectors” in a place in San Andrés, to later install totems made with recycled material in strategic places. Finally, the impact of before, during and after will be determined.
The idea will be led by the group of academics: Dr. Norka Blanco (Faculty of Education), Dr. Juan Placencia (Faculty of Sciences), Angélica Rodríguez (Executive Coordinator of the SDG Program), the student group “Cato Verde”, more undergraduate and graduate students from UCSC.
“What we want is to give value to this waste, give it a second use and there is innovation and technology that must be applied in an interdisciplinary research work with colleagues, students and manufacture a product that hopefully we can generate from the University”, commented the academic from the Faculty of Sciences.
impact of butts
According to what was reported by Dr. Placencia, the impact of cigarette residue carries a complex impact on the environment, since for its production 22 megatons (MT) of water, 5.3 million hectares of land, 27 MT of material resources are considered. , 25 MT of solid waste, 84 MT of carbon dioxide emissions and 55 MT of water waste.
As part of the polluting elements are tobacco residues, cellulose acetate fiber (thermoplastic) and paper. To which is added physical contamination, since marine organisms can confuse them as food and it is a source of microplastic.
Likewise, the Doctor of Oceanography explained in 2016 of the 5.7 billion cigarettes manufactured, 4.96 billion were not disposed of correctly, which causes the release of dangerous toxic substances that can be released into the environment.
Reality at UCSC
In response to the previous scenario, and as part of a progress in the “UCSC sin coillas” project, during 2022 the complementary subject “Topics in Environmental Sciences” was carried out, in which students of Industrial Civil Engineering, Electrical Civil, Geological Civil and Pedagogy in Secondary Education, who through an activity identified more than 3,000 cigarette butts at different points on the San Andrés Campus.
This dynamic will be repeated during 2023 and with this information the action plan of the Scientific and Technological Nucleus will be developed. However, awareness initiatives and work with the members of the University are already being carried out. An example of that is what took place this Tuesday in the Auditorium of the Faculty of Education, where the scope of the idea was delivered and the community was also invited to participate.
“The idea is to work on sustainability from the internal management of UCSC, adding activities with different actors, combining, systematizing and reporting all this work for the rankings. Also, in the Strategic Development Plan of the House of Studies there are already specific lines that are helping to create a vocation in terms of institutional sustainability”, explained Dr. Blanco.
