About 30 students from three local high schools collected 5,000 to 6,000 cigarette butts on Saturday as they walked through Jackson Park.
“It’s very gross,” said Ciera Griffith, 16, a student at East Henderson High School.
The clean-up was done by members of the Interact Club, SWAT Club and ROTC at East Henderson, Hendersonville and North Henderson high schools. SWAT is an anti-smoking coalition at the schools. The Interact Club focuses on the environment.
“Basically, we want to help make this park a lot cleaner place,” Ciera added.
“I think it’s important to not have cigarette butts around the playground,” said Kimbrella Lee, 16, a student at East.
Students picked up butts around benches, playgrounds, the ball fields and tennis courts in Jackson Park.
This is the second location where students from the schools have picked up cigarette butts around Henderson County. In May of last year, 20 students picked up more than 10,000 cigarette butts along Main Street in Hendersonville. In October, about 50 picked up almost 21,000 cigarette butts on Main Street.
Tracy W. Stevens, Henderson County Public Schools tobacco prevention coordinator, referenced the 2008 annual report, done by the American Association of Poison Control Centers, which cited more than 7,000 reports of young children ingesting tobacco products and needing medical attention. Children who ingest tobacco products may experience vomiting and nausea, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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