Students will have the opportunity Thursday, Feb. 13, to show their support for ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½β€™s smoke-free campus initiative by collecting cigarette trash around the main campus – and have a chance to win cash. This will be the second time the Student Health Advisory Committee has hosted the Butt Clean Up Day event.

β€œLast year, with the policy being so new, it made perfect sense to host the event while everyone was still adjusting to the smoke-free campus,” said David DeWitt, president of SHAC. β€œBut we wanted to do it again this year because we feel it still needs to be prominent and visible to everyone at ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ that this is a smoke-free campus.”

The four students collecting the most cigarette trash will be awarded $50 gift cards to Barnes & Noble. To participate, students should check in at the smoke-free tent on the Student Union patio after 10 a.m. to register and pick up supplies, and return the trash by 5 p.m. The trash will be recorded by volume and disposed of by Environmental Health and Safety. All participants will be given ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ smoke-free T-shirts, and the winners will be notified the next day for prize pickup.

The voluntary smoke-free initiative, which went into effect August 2012, was put in place to encourage a more-healthy lifestyle. Since ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ went smoke-free, Valencia College, Florida State University and Seminole State College also have joined the more than 1,182 universities and colleges in the nation with smoke-free or tobacco-free policies in place. When ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ made the change, all ash trays on campus were removed.

Volunteers last year collected about 32 gallon bags of cigarette trash. Β 

For more information, contact Megan Pabian, coordinator of university relations in Health Services, megan.pabian@ucf.edu.