Look closely, that tree stump is made out of cigarette butts! (click on the picture to enlarge)
Do you ever wonder what happens to the all the cigarette butts that get picked up off our streets and beaches? Well on April 12, 2014, our Hold on to Your Butt (HOTYB) volunteers, along with one of our partner organizations Mutts Against Butts, picked up 7,000+ cigarette butts at the Old Town Transit Center and donated the butts to the California Department of Public Health. The Dept. of Public Health hired Artist J Cristobal Valecillos to help them create an upcoming television ad entitled "Street Art."
The ad was shot last week on location at a Metro stop in Los Angeles, and Mr. Valecillos transformed the ugly butts into an amazing piece to highlight the billions of trees that are used every year to make cigarette butts. After sorting all the butts by color and sealing every single butt individually with a special sealer so it didn’t smell up his studio, it took Mr. Valecillos and his team four weeks to build this. While the piece was put on display at a metro stop in LA, reactions of those passing by were captured on film. People were amazed by both the facts and the piece!
Thank you to all our amazing HOTYB volunteers, and partners as we work together to raise awareness about the impact of cigarette butt litter. And remember to Hold On To Your Butt!
Every time a cigarette butt is littered a tree falls in the forest! (click on the picture to enlarge)
The Artist J Cristobal Valecillos on the far left.