A retired pharmacist, Negweny El Assal, has collected 120000 cigarette butts off the streets to create anti-smoking artwork. He collects up to 3000 cigarette butts in one hour. His clean-up mission began three months ago. He has created 50 masterpieces till now that display anti-smoking and anti-littering messages. Each piece of art takes a day to complete.

On Monday to Friday, the grandfather-of-four works in his company Cigarette Waste Management Ltd. Assal chose his office location as Blackpool because of the high number of tourists that visit the region. He said: “I wanted to choose a place where I could make a real difference. Tourist destinations should be beautiful, they trade on their beauty. I also wanted to get my message out there to a lot of people. Blackpool has 11 to 13 million visitors a year and 20% of the British public visit here every year.”

He added: “When I go out I have my grabber in one hand and a basket in the other to collect all the cigarette butts. I also have a plastic bag to collect the rubbish as I go along. I also ask businesses if they will install a cigarette box so people can dispose of their tabs properly, and not on the floor.” The toxic waste harms seagulls and other birds, animals and humans. Assal aims to work towards making the rules on disposal of such waste stricter, open a gallery and provide 1,400 free wall-mounted disposal bins to reduce littering. He said: “My target is to eliminate every cigarette butt from the streets of Blackpool and Blackpool will lead the world showing how it can be done.” He truly is an inspiration.