How many cigarette butts are there on Portuguese beaches? Join the ‘Butt Hike’ and find out

German activist Andreas Noe invites anyone willing to support his environmental pilgrimage

Andreas Noe is a German microbiologist turned environmental activist who has gained some prominence in Portugal and Europe with his 2020 ‘Plastic Hike’ initiative. Last year, in the span of two months Mr Noe walked the 832 kilometres composing the Iberian country coast. The result was the collection of 1.6 tonnes of plastic and the production of a documentary – all with the aim of raising more awareness.

This year, he is at it once again, but with a slightly different focus – collecting cigarette butts from the Portuguese beaches during the so-called ‘Butt Hike’. The Municipality of Porto reported that the activist was at the city coast on Wednesday, 11 August, as part of his journey.

The ‘Butt Hike’ will end on 28 September in Tavira

The ‘Caminhada das Beatas’ (which is the Portuguese name for the ‘Butt Hike’) started on 5 August in Viana do Castelo and will pass through more than 30 Portuguese cities until it ends in Tavira (on the southern Algarve coast), on 28 September.

Andreas Noe is inviting anyone who wants to join the initiative: “I am asking the entire community in Portugal to collect cigarette butts wherever they are and at the end of September bring them to us. We can cram everything into one place and we will see how big the mound will be”.

Additionally, “The Trash Traveler”, as Andreas calls himself, presented a set of initiatives in Porto that include the exhibition of art pieces created with the plastic material collected the previous year. In addition to the exhibition, there were board games on environmental themes, conversations, music, and a presentation of “The Plastic Hike” documentary which portrays the work carried out in 2020 in cleaning the beaches.