In Bogotá, a city of around 10 million people, cigarette butts on the sidewalks of the city are a common sight.
To combat this, in 2022, Coltabaco S.A.S., Philip Morris International´s affiliate in Colombia, launched a pilot project called “Bogotá No es un Cenicero” (Bogotá is Not an Ashtray), collaborating with the public sector, civil society, and the private sector.
In a bid to keep cigarette butts off the streets of the city, the three-month pilot project aimed to educate adult smokers across Colombia’s capital and encourage behavioral change—ensuring that cigarette butts weren’t littered in public areas but were instead disposed of properly.
New project in Bogotá sees increase in responsible cigarette butt disposal
Bogota is not an ashtray encouraged
thousands of citizens to dispose
cigarette butts correctly.
Meaning they reached the cigarette butt bins and
public cans only, but never the streets
or other public spaces.
What were we looking for with this pilot
project three main actions
1. Encourage a change in citizens’ behaviors
2. Reduce the number of cigarette butts
on the streets through interactive collection bins
3. Three motivate the participation of the
public and private sectors and Civil Society in favor of the city
what were the results
after the deployment of a network of
interactive cigarette butt bins and a
massive education campaign near El Parque de los hippies
Bogota is not an ashtray managed to team
up with authorities, civil society,
the community of chapinero and adult smokers
so their cigarette butts were disposed
of correctly and didn't end up on the
streets, sidewalks, parks and green areas.
In only three months, the project
achieved a reduction of more than 80 in
the number of cigarette butts thrown on
the street compared to the initial study.
In addition more than 16 000 cigarette
butts were collected from bins in this area
although there are different variables
that must be considered.
The results showed a change in behavior of
adult smokers and citizens thanks to this
education campaign
Bogota is not an ashtray caught the attention of Bogota's citizens.
It appeared in 27 national media publications and reached more than
10 million people with educational messages
moreover more than 18,000 clicks were
registered in the official website of
Bogota is not an ashtray and an organic
conversation sparked on social media
reached more than 4 million people and
generated nearly 8 million impressions.
The success of the pilot project has
been the change in citizen behaviors.
The more people understand that
Bogota is not an ashtray, the cleaner our public spaces will be.
Through a robust, three-pronged approach, temporary interactive eye-level cigarette butt bins were installed to encourage adult smokers to be more engaged when disposing of their used cigarette butts.
This was coupled with a large-scale educational campaign and numerous strategic partnerships.
The project proved to be a success, with a marked change in adult smokers’ behaviors around cigarette disposal in the areas of the city where the pilot took place.
The results of the pilot project show a massive 80 percent reduction in cigarette butts disposed of in the areas where the pilot was conducted, (covering 51,217 square meters). compared to the levels recorded at the start of the project. In addition, over 16,000 cigarette butts were collected from bins located in the pilot area.
Although there are other variables to be considered in this reporting—with less cigarettes disposed of in the streets, sidewalks, parks, and “Parque de los Hippies,” where the pilot was conducted—the team has been inspired and expanded the project to two new parts of the city in 2023.
