An installation of a paddle board and paddle made of cigarette butts was opened in Old City Harbour’s terminal D to raise awareness about cigarette butt pollution

As of January 25, visitors of Old City Harbor’s passenger terminal D can have a look at the paddle board and paddle made of cigarette butts. The aim of the unique works of art placed on terminal’s first floor in a freely accessible area is to raise people’s awareness about the negative environmental impact of cigarette butts when thrown on the ground.

One of the Port of Tallinn’s sustainable development goals is clean Baltic Sea. For a clean Baltic Sea it is important to fight pollution caused by cigarette butts. On the World Cleanup Day 2020 and within the framework of the campaign against cigarette butt pollution called “The Sea Starts Here”, the Port of Tallinn group employees collected nearly 10,000 cigarette butts from the Old City Harbour area and its vicinity. From the collected cigarette butts the artist Ines-Issa Villido made a paddle, which fits with the paddleboard made previously also by Ines using the same technique and cigarette butts.

Unfortunately, there is still a widespread misconception that cigarette butts decay in the environment and are therefore often thrown on the ground. The cigarette butt is made of plastic and contains dangerous chemical components that are released into the environment in this way. When getting into the water, one cigarette butt can poison up to 1000 liters of water.

The buttboard and paddle are open for all interested people to view at the Old City Harbour’s D-terminal until the end of June 2021.

To view the making of video of the buttboard click >> here.