Cigarette Butts
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
[Date]
CONTACT:
[Name, Phone #, Email]
[INSERT CATCHY HEADLINE]
[Insert subtitle if desired]
{Introduction Paragraph}
YOUR TOWN, MA – Start with a couple of enticing sentences that briefly summarize your project, and include the five essential W’s (who, what, where, when, and why)
{Fact Paragraph}
Add a paragraph (or two) that discusses the importance of the issue, using facts rather than opinion. Share the information in descending order of importance. For example:
Cigarettes are the most littered item in America—176 million pounds each year. That’s enough to fill the seats at Fenway Park 32 times. Cigarette butts and filters can also take up to 20 years to decompose. When carried into storm drains, cigarette butts go directly to nearby rivers, beaches, and bays.
{Quote Paragraph}
Include a quote from one of the project leaders or other relevant contact. The quote is the opportunity to tell how you feel about the topic, and introduce the readers to organizations that also care about the issue.
{Background Paragraph}
This project is part of a larger outreach campaign called Think Blue Massachusetts, which is being led in [your community] by the [your organization/team]. The Think Blue Massachusetts campaign (www.ThinkBlueMA.org) educates citizens about stormwater pollution and how we can all help protect our water resources. Polluted stormwater is a major public health threat to [your town]'s waters -- closing swimming beaches, contaminating drinking water supplies, and harming shellfish, birds, and mammals.
{Contact Paragraph}
For more information, please contact [insert contact information].
###
Please note: this letter is intended only as a model for your letter to the editor. Make sure to personalize it to include your experience with stormwater pollution, and highlight issues that are of particular importance to your community.
NAME
ADDRESS
PHONE
EMAIL
Dear Editor,
Our community, like just about every other community in America, has a problem with cigarette butt litter. Mounds of butts pile up in parking lots, on sidewalks, and even in parks and other public places. In fact, cigarette butts are the most littered item in America—176 million pounds each year. Most people believe cigarette butts are biodegradable, but this is simply not true. They are made with cellulose acetate tow (plastic) and can take up to 20 years to decompose. The big problem, however, is that these butts don’t just stay still on the ground where they’re thrown.
Water from rain and snowmelt carries anything it can to storm drains—those grated openings found on all of our streets—and then through the stormwater system. But unlike the sewer system that takes our sink and toilet water to a treatment plant, stormwater is never cleaned. Instead, it’s discharged as is to our rivers, beaches, and bays. That means that what ends up on our streets, including all of those cigarette butts, ends up in our waters. These littered cigarette butts can cause major health problems for small animals, marine life and even small children who mistake them for food.
I encourage everyone to take just a few minutes to learn how to reduce pollution in our local waterways by visiting www.ThinkBlueMA.org, a great resource that provides simple tips and facts on ways we can be part of the polluted stormwater solution.
Respectfully,
NAME
ORGANIZATION/AFFILIATION (if applicable)
