Student Health Advocacy Committee to host cigarette cleanup competition on UA campus

By RYAN REVOCK Published March 18, 2013 at 12:31am Updated March 18, 2013 at 12:31am

The UA Student Health Advocacy Committee will hold its first UA KickButts Day Cleanup Competition on March 20.

Participants can work alone or with one other person cleaning up cigarette butts around campus. The winner(s) receive a $200 Amazon gift card, second place will win a $100 gift card and third place will receive a $50 gift card, said Hannah Ridinger, a SHAC member and pre-nursing freshman. There will also be $10 gift cards being raffled off at the competition.

“Students should participate in the UA KickButts Cleanup competition because it is a great way to get involved on campus and learn more about tobacco use around the community,” said Stephanie Kha, the Health and Wellness Committee chair of the SHAC and a biochemistry sophomore.

Competitors will meet on the UA Mall at 4:30 p.m. and the competition will officially begin at 5 p.m. SHAC will supply bags and gloves for competitors to use during the competition, according to Ridinger.

The competition is funded by a grant from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, according to Nick Fradkin, a youth activism fellow with the American Legacy Foundation who helped SHAC apply for the grant. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids gives out grants, which allow competitions like “KickButts” to be held.

Following the competition, the cigarette butts will be disposed of by sending them to the Cigarette Waste Brigade, Kha said. A company called TerraCycle runs the brigade and pays for shipping the cigarette butts. The butts are then broken down and are able
to be reused.

The competition is part of an effort by SHAC to make the UA a tobacco-free campus, according to Kha.

Currently the committee has an online petition, through change.org, to make the UA tobacco-free. The purpose of the petition is to show student support for a tobacco-free campus to UA President Ann Weaver Hart and the faculty senate, Kha said.

“We want students be able to go to a university and breathe in a healthy environment,” Kha said.

If you go

You can register yourself or your team by going to http://tiny.cc/kickbutts and you can also register for the competition the day of on the UA Mall.