24 June 2025
Smoking has been banned on VU Campus grounds since 2020. Yet cleaners regularly clean up rubbish bags full of cigarette butts. Butts are full of plastic and harmful substances and never completely disappear, which is why from June onwards Peukenzee will be back in action again this year!
Collection
Peukenzee collects cigarette waste from all smoking hotspots and takes care of its recycling. When there are cigarette butts on the ground, they will be picked up by Peukenzee and taken to the Beech Box.
Why this action?
- Part of VU policy. Since 2020, it has been legally prohibited to smoke on educational premises. The smoking ban also applies to e-cigarettes and other tobacco-free smoking products.
- Need. Despite the smoking ban, cleaners still clear many cigarette butts from the campus grounds every day. Butts are full of plastic and other harmful substances. They are not biodegradable and bad for nature and the animals we share our Campus Square with. Most of the cigarette butts end up in nature. This makes cigarette butts the most commonly found litter. When it rains, the chemicals from the cigarette butt end up in groundwater. One cigarette can pollute as much as 1,000 litres of water. In this video, artist Thijs Biersteker shows the effect of a discarded cigarette on nature.
- Awareness raising VU community. Peukenzee not only comes by to collect the cigarette waste but also engage with people about the need for this action. This will create awareness about recycling and environmental conservation.
When does Peukenzee come by?
Employees of Peukenzee will visit every last week of the month from June to collect cigarette butts.
Recycling
The collected waste will be converted into material used to produce sheet material, providing a sustainable solution to the problem of cigarette waste. Through these initiatives, contributing to a waste-free environment raises awareness about recycling and environmental conservation.
Read more about the smoke-free campus.