Quantifying Cigarette Butt Waste on Dalhousie University’s Studley Campus: A Spatial Analysis of Hotspots via Location and Ground-Type Patterns

Abstract

The abundance of cigarette butt litter present on Dalhousie University’s Studley Campus, resulting from continued smoking creates a barrier to achieving the university's goal of maintaining a smoke-free campus. Physical counts of littered cigarette butts were conducted to quantify cigarette butt pollution on the two campuses and create a visual representation of the data using heatmaps generated using ArcGIS Pro. A total of 13,816 cigarette butts were recorded across 749 surveyed locations. Kruskal-Wallis and Post Hoc Dunn’s tests were used to assess the significance of the distribution of cigarette butts, as well as their associated ground and location types. Cigarette butt accumulation varied by ground type: 65.77% of cigarette butts were found on natural surfaces, 17.44% on artificial surfaces, and 16.79% of cigarette butts were found in areas with both artificial and natural ground types. Additionally, accumulation of cigarette butts varied by location type: the largest quantities were recorded near sidewalks (25.11%), parking lots (21.56%), and educational buildings (21.06%). Notable high-density areas were observed: 676 outside of an administration building, 607 found outside of a library and 485 cigarette butts outside of a residence building, which are visible on the heatmap and illustrated in accompanying figures. The mean cigarette butt count per square meter was 18.45 with a standard deviation of 50.36. Results of the Kruskal-Wallis tests show a significant difference in cigarette butt counts across ground types (p = 0.028) and between location types (p < 0.001). The results of the Post Hoc Dunn’s tests indicate a greater accumulation of cigarette butts on sidewalks and natural ground types. The findings of this study demonstrate that smoking persists despite campus guidelines. However, the results can be used to help inform Dalhousie’s waste management practices and policy enforcement, contributing to a healthier and cleaner environment on Studley Campus.

Keywords: Cigarette Butt, Cellulose Acetate, University, Leaching, Second-Hand Smoke, Smoke-Free Policy, Hotspots, GIS (Geographic Information Systems), Litter Audit, Displacement Effect.