SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — The “Heaviest Butt” campaign launched recently by the Ecology Center of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has gone viral in just 48 hours since it was posted online on April 5.

The post had reached 6 million people, garnered 45.6 thousand shares, 30.2 thousand likes, and 19.2 thousand comments and questions, as people took interest on the story that the SBMA was buying dry cigarette butts for P300 per kilo.

Most comments expressed surprise: “Is this true?” Some were curious: “What will you do with the cigarette butts that you are buying?”

Meant to be a local campaign, it has caught nationwide and even international attention, with people from as far as Metro Manila, Laguna, La Union, Baguio, Cagayan De Oro, and Davao asking how and where do they send their cigarette butts.

SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said, “We are very happy that our campaign has gone viral and is catching the attention of a lot of people. We are hopeful that the study in which these cigarette butts will be used, would turn out positive as well.”

The “Heaviest Butt” campaign was conceptualized in response to the observation that cigarette butts are one of the top three litters collected in the annual International Coastal Clean-up in Subic Bay. About 4.5 trillion butts are littered worldwide every year.

Cigarette butts cannot be recycled because of the smell and because they contain toxins like lead, arsenic, and cadmium. The butts take 5 to 10 years to decompose, and, as such, contaminate soil and water.

SBMA Ecology Center manager Amethya Dela Llana said her office has partnered with a local company which has designed its own machine for litter or garbage recycling and up-cycling.

The cigarette butts collected through the “Heaviest Butt” campaign will be used to test and study if it were possible to remove the smell and toxins so that the butts can be upcycled into bricks or hollow blocks.

Ecology Center is now collecting 20-60 kilograms of cigarette butts for the said study.

This campaign is part of SBMA’s bigger program dubbed as “War on Waste.” The agency is also launching the “Refuse Single Use” campaign against the use of one-time-use plastic bottles, and the “Straw Sucks” drive against plastic straws.

On the other hand, the SBMA is encouraging the use of alternative materials such as bamboo or metal for straws, or for the public to not to use drinking straws at all.

Eisma said that with these campaigns, the SBMA hopes to engender behavioral change among its stakeholders in order to promote environmental responsibility.

“The campaigns also aim to strengthen partnership and collaboration with the local community in keeping a clean and healthy Subic Bay Freeport Zone as a place of choice to live, work, and play,” Eisma added.