Climate activists heap up 650,000 cigarette butts

A German environmental activist throws cigarette butts as he sits on top of a pile of them, collected in one week, at Comercio square in Lisbon, Portugal on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Lisbon: Climate activists gathered 650,000 cigarette butts and piled them up in the heart of Portugal’s capital Lisbon on Sunday to raise awareness about the often-overlooked form of pollution.

They collected enough stubs to fill 40 plastic buckets, then heaped them into a mound for the German climate campaigner behind the stunt to climb on.