We took some of the stink out of the notoriously dirty Tenderloin yesterday when just 10 volunteers picked up an overwhelming 6,650 cigarette butts on 9 TL blocks in less than 2 hours. The TL is home to the highest concentration of kids in all of SF. That the city of San Francisco doesn't do more to keep their home clean and safe, by at the very least enforcing their requirement that businesses must have cigarette receptacles, is nothing but a dirty shame. Not surprisingly, we found the highest concentrations of cigarette butts around SROs, bars, and corner stores. Ashcans and education will help this problem.
We did good, it felt good, didn't smell so good....but butt picking rarely does. Many many thank yous from neighborhood, a few threats, and some serious good karma for the volunteers. Big thanks to Tradition for hosting our happy hour and to Boeddeker Park for being our home base. We'll be recycling all butts through TerraCycle. 