Our Seas Our Future (OSOF) volunteers were out on Saturday as part of a national OSOF No Butts campaign, which aimed to shed light on the large number of cigarette butts littering New Zealand streets.
OSOF regional co-ordinator Marissa Kelderman said about 4000 cigarette butts, 60 litres of recyclable materials and 60 litres of rubbish were collected by volunteers in about one hour, at the university on Saturday.
"We found most of the butts right next to a Smokefree sign."
On Saturday, the Dunedin team also cleaned up another 4000 cigarette butts around Dunedin Hospital.
OSOF founder Noel Jhinku said about the same quantity of butts was found by volunteers again, within the same timeframe.
About 120 litres of general litter was also collected, half of which was recyclable.
"Unfortunately, we found a remarkable amount of butts littered outside the hospital area, accounting for almost half of what we found in total.
"In general, where there are Smokefree signs, there are also lots of butts littered."
Mr Jhinku questioned whether Smokefree signs were "generally effective".
"Based on our nationwide experience with cleanups focusing on littered cigarette butts, the answer is no.
"We acknowledge the wider negative health impacts of smoking.
"However, as a marine conservation organisation, our main focus is the environmental impacts of all of these butts.
"If we can find around 4000 butts in around one hour, how many butts are out there polluting our natural environment? Butts are a big problem."
Mr Jhinku said OSOF was planning more national No Butts cleanup events as New Zealand moved into less restrictive Covid levels, and the weather warmed up.
