Park Clean-Up Kickoff

The smallest things can have the largest impact when gathered in numbers. Despite their small size, cigarette butts are the number one source of trash in our oceans – 4.5 trillion butts every year, or the same weight as 127,000 African elephants! Despite that fact, there is still no way to recycle them in Europe. It shouldn’t be hard to put a stop to that – taking care of the planet is a walk in the park!

The idea was conceived when 7-year-old Maya stood up and asked, ‘Why is my favourite park full of cigarette butts?’

Her spirited call for a clean neighbourhood park has been heard by kids and adults alike. MaNaBu decided to join the cause, providing the tools, organizational backing and media coverage required to kickstart the Movement and begin addressing Maya’s concerns. Kids all under 10 years old enthusiastically collected the cigarette butts and encouraged smoking adults to stop littering in their park, and shared their views in front of the cameras to reach and educate more people about their cause. Her favourite park in Zagreb was the first to be cleaned up, with many more to come in the near future.


Our children may be small, but their heart are huge and with their help cleaning up our parks and waterways, we can reverse this trend – and maybe teach the adults a thing or two about looking after the environment along the way.


Building a cleaner, greener future starts at the ground floor.