Smokers will throw butts into Vajgl, new ashtrays will fill the metropolis
The BezVajglu.cz initiative wants to install urban ashtrays with the characteristic name “Vajgl” in the streets of Prague.
“If everything goes according to plan, the people of Prague will be able to throw butts into the first thirty bins at the beginning of autumn,” says Petr Kukla, founder of BezVajglu.cz.
His fight against vajgels began seven years ago, when he offered pocket ashtrays to smokers. However, they did not take off very well and Kukl did not reach the desired goal even with an ashtray called the Starling Hut, developed for bistros or festivals.
“We distributed and sold approximately 120 of these ashtrays in three years,” recalls the anti-butt campaigner, who smoked for many years and tested the first ashtrays at home.
I’m coming to the asphalt
But the initial failures did not discourage him, after two years of development he came up with the greatest creation. He called him simply – Vajgl. The giant butt is made from a waste PVC pipe, the tipper in the form of a vajgl is made on a 3D printer.
Bezvajglu.czThe initiative was founded in 2015 by Petr Kukla with the determination to “de-weigle” the world. “Cigarette butts are one of the most common types of waste on the planet, while analyzes show that up to 30% of waste in public spaces is made up of the latter,” says Petr Kukla in the accompanying text to the collection on the Hithit.cz platform. He won over one hundred thousand crowns in it. Ashtrays called Vajgl will be installed in the first streets in a few months. |
“Now we offer it to individual cities and their parts,” adds Kukla. According to the initiator, either city workers or BezVajglů.cz will pick up ashtrays, the most important thing is that cigarette butts are recycled.
“We have an agreement with the company EcoButt from Slovakia, which makes granulate from ‘Vaigl’ and mixes it into the asphalt,” Kukla outlines one of the possibilities for the repeated use of cigarette butts.
A crowdfunding campaign that has just ended has helped speed up the production of urban ashtrays. In the end, the initiative managed to collect the desired hundred crowns from donors on the Internet. The first thirty ashtrays will cost about half as much.
“They are interested in the first bins in Prague 3 and 4, the environmental departments gave us the green light,” says Kukla. The initiator of the campaign believes that he will gradually get the ashtrays to all corners of the metropolis.
The third city district already tested the residents’ reaction to non-traditional bins last year. According to Mayor Jiří Ptáček (TOP 09/STAN), she was inspired by a similar project that has been running for several years in Vienna.
“A cigarette butt is trash like any other and does not belong in public space. Its cleaning from surfaces is practically impossible,” explains Ptáček. A total of ten baskets similar to the mentioned Vajgl placed the “troika” in several locations: on Kostnické náměstí, in Seifertova Street, Lipanská, two on Náměstí Jiřího z Poděbrad, at the Táboritská–Ondříčkova, Koněvova, Biskupcova intersection or at the Vinohradská–Jičínská intersection. Later they also appeared on Tachovské náměstí and Lukášová Street.
250 butts per bin
“We selected the locations for the placement of new ashtrays according to clearly defined criteria. Among them are, for example, a lot of foot traffic, the absence of other bins, entrances to the subway, arrivals at subways and stops, or the popularity of the location in the countryside,” explains the mayor. According to data from last November in Prague 3, there were up to 250 cigarette butts in these ashtrays, which are cleaned once a month.
“This is also why we are considering deploying more. According to our assignment, one blacksmith’s workshop is created in a rather striking form so that people can find them and serve as a reminder that cigarette butts do not belong on the sidewalk,” says Jiří Ptáček.
Ashtrays are emptied by city hall workers once a month. One such emptying of the ashtray costs Prague 3 twenty-two crowns. The purchase of an ashtray, including installation, costs approximately three and a half thousand.
In the past, the municipality also dealt with the fight against cigarette butts on the ground. The authorities of Prague were worried about the large number of cigarette butts on the streets, especially after the approval of the “anti-smoking law”.
In 2017, the then deputy mayor Petr Dolínek (ČSSD) had a so-called sidewalk ashtray set up. It was unique, but it didn’t last long. Smokers in front of the Hany Bana bar threw cigarette butts onto the sidewalk through the metal grate. And as people stepped on it, it began to sag.
“Then it started to sink in and became dangerous,” a local regular told iDNES.cz at the time. The Prague pilot project ended after about two months of paving. At the same time, people liked the ashtray and after its removal complained that it was no longer there.