Youth Council Cleans Up & Recycles Tobacco Waste in Town of Gordonsville
By: Orange County Communications Department
On December 20, members of the Orange County Youth Council, along with staff from the Office on Youth and members of the Orange Healthy Community Action Team (HCAT), took to the streets of Gordonsville to clean up tobacco litter such as cigarette butts, packaging, and vape pens. Based on weight, it is estimated that more than 4,080 cigarette butts were collected! Five bags of non - tobacco litter were removed as well. Thanks to the dedication of Youth Council members, these cleanups have become annual events held in the towns of Orange (spring/summer) and Gordonsville (fall/winter).
Cigarette butts are the most littered item in world. Despite their cotton - like appearance, they are nonbiodegradable and are mostly made up of plastic fibers. They leach toxic chemicals, such as arsenic and lead, into the environment. Since tobacco use is harmful to both the user and the ecosystem, the Youth Council is also dedicated to being peer advocates for the prevention of youth tobacco use. With funding assistance from the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth (VFHY), the Orange County Office on Youth has been able to assist the Youth Council in these efforts. The most recent event went a step further than prior cleanups. Rather than simply collecting and disposing of the tobacco waste, organizers submitted the items for recycling through the Cigarette Waste Free Recycling program offered by TerraCycle, which separates the components and creates
usable commodities from the waste. More information about the recycling program is available at: www.terracycle.com/en - US/ brigades/cigarette - waste - recycling. While this cleanup focused on alleviating the environmental impacts resulting from tobacco product use, the effort is multidimensional. Other programs, such as the Hidden in Plain Sight event in October, focused on empowering parents and caregivers with the knowledge to recognize and prevent teen substance abuse, including tobacco, before the product is used. For more information about the tobacco clean - up event, tobacco prevention programming in Orange County, or programs made possible by VFHY funding, please contact Robyn Chapman, Office on Youth Grant Program Manager, at (540) 672 - 5484, option 1, or at rchapman@orangecountyva.gov.
Page 9 | January 2025
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