The “Buttanical” Garden was sponsored by the Healthy Connections-SOS program and is a recommended project by the Keep America Beautiful Campaign.

The “Buttanical” Garden is a plot full of the state’s most frequently planted perennial - the cigarette butt. The BUTTanical Garden is a dramatic demonstration of the harmful effects of cigarette litter on our communities and environment.

To our knowledge, the Bearcats Against Tobacco and the Mena High EAST Lab were the first team in Arkansas to build a garden of this kind. Little Rock representatives from the Great Arkansas Clean Up and The Keep Arkansas Beautiful Campaign visited Mena to photograph and interview our team. Pictures and video will also be posted on the Keep Arkansas Beautiful Web site. The Bearcats Against Tobacco and The Mena High School EAST Lab co-sponsored and helped construct the garden. It is being reassembled at various community locations throughout the year. The local cable station filmed construction and interviewed citizens for feedback. Surveys were conducted during the exhibit to gauge public view regarding tobacco and cigarette waste as litter. This project promoted discussion about the amount of cigarette litter in the community and acted as the kick-off event for the Great Arkansas Cleanup. We now have an active group of coaches and citizens, including park personnel, supporting a smoke-free initiative for Mena City Parks.

• Cigarette litter is not a smoking issue - it’s a littering issue. Smokers don’t have to stop smoking to decrease the amount of cigarette litter. Instead, we must all learn to dispose of cigarette litter responsibly.
• Cigarette filters are made of plastic, not paper and cotton. That makes them nonbiodegradable. Cigarette litter lingers in our environment up to 25 years.
• Cigarette butts are lightweight and can easily move through our storm drains into our waterways and water supplies.
• Water will leech the toxins from cigarette litter making such litter deadly to most aquatic life. In fact, the toxins released from one cigarette butt left in a gallon of water for one day will kill about 80 percent of aquatic life added to that water.
• Cigarette waste is the most abundant form of litter in Arkansas and on the planet. In fact, collected cigarette litter weighs in the millions of pounds annually.