The airport organized a waste collection operation targeting cigarette butts in particular on September 18, on the occasion of World Cleanup Day. Employees of the airport company and companies present at the airport volunteered, for a morning, in order to contribute to this mobilization for the cleanliness of the planet.
“The toxic substances present in a single cigarette butt are enough to pollute 500 liters of water”, recalls the association. The operation was supervised by the Project Rescue Ocean association., which has been involved in collecting waste in public spaces since 2019 in Reunion Island and has already collected around a hundred tonnes ! World Cleanup Day is a special time to raise public awareness of the problem of waste and the danger it represents for our island environment and marine life.. Project Rescue Ocean volunteers briefed and equipped participants in the clean-up operation. The latter concerned several areas of the airport area. Trophies were awarded to the most efficient waste pickers of the morning, especially to those who collected the greatest number of cigarette butts.
Collecting cigarette butts in front of the terminal
The “Vote a li met proper” system was inaugurated that same day in front of the Departure terminal, as part of a partnership between the airport and the Lions Club Réunion Renaissance. The Dionysian philanthropic club acquired one of these boxes based on the original concept of the ballot bin : it encourages smokers to get rid of their butts in a fun way, rather than throwing them on the ground or in plants, by inserting it into a slot corresponding to a vote for the question written on the box.
