The Samoa Cancer Society, its supporters, and business partners collected cigarette butts in the Apia Town area on Saturday morning to highlight the environmental impact of cigarette smoking. 

The initiative, which normally coincides with World Tobacco Day to raise awareness on the dangers of smoking, is one of the major activities of the S.C.S. to prevent Samoans from taking up the habit.

The Chief Executive of the SCS, Su'a John Ryan, said the society continues to take the lead in informing people on the dangers of smoking and encouraging them to quit. It recently launched its "butt out" campaign to focus its message on the impact of discarded cigarettes on the environment.  

"This was our cigarette butt clean-up day which has been celebrated every year around the world and Samoa Cancer Society has taken the lead in informing and encourage the public to stop smoking because it is one of the main causes of cancer, which is the effectiveness of lung cancer in Samoa," he said.

"As for Samoa we have a heavy population of people who smoke; what we have seen now [are]  the numbers of people who smoke has increased across the country. 

"The awareness we have been provided is not only for human health but [on smoking's] very harmful effects on our environment."

The campaign was timed to closely coincide with World Tobacco Day on 31 May.

"Lots of our supporters and volunteers who have turned up and show their support in collect the butt-cigarettes which is mainly focused on the town area, we all know this is the most populated area as many people are in different workplaces so the aim is to start off in the town area first" said Su'a. 

"The environment is very important, we need to get this out of the environment, it all ended up on our water system, it's important to start up with something because it's very dangerous.

"We started this initiative through the continuous support of the [Samoa Civil Society Support Programme (C.S.S.P.)] their donation have given us the opportunity to go on with our projects that have been now scheduled for the future."

Su'a acknowledged the support of the society's volunteers as well that provided by staff from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (M.N.R.E.), the World Health Organisation and even representatives from the Marist Netball Club. 

"More than 100 [people] have turned up for the events - for that, we want to thank them for supporting us in many ways."

The society also encouraged the public to quit smoking for its lifestyle benefits and its impact on the environment. 

"We encourage our people to drink more water and take up the healthy lifestyle we have, this helps to protect us from diseases if we do not act now we might be too late in the future," Su'a said. 

The S.C.S. plans to work closely with the community to discourage smoking and promote better environmental and recycling methods for dealing with discarded cigarette butts, 

The society is holding a science fair competition for Year 9-13 students who have already submitted projects on the effects of cigarettes on the public and ideas for raising awareness about the dangers of smoking targeting the younger generation.