Crows and Cigarette Butts: A Clever Idea or Just a Myth?

In 2025, a wild story spread online about a Swedish city training crows to clean up cigarette butts. The claim was that these birds would bring the litter to a specific spot for a food reward. This idea caught people's attention, with many posts on social media getting thousands of reactions. But was it true?

The Origin of the Rumor

The rumor started after a 2022 article in a UK newspaper suggested that the city of Södertälje was testing this idea. However, the city's spokesperson clarified that while a startup presented the project during a science event, no actual collaboration or project happened beyond that. So, the rumor was based on a misunderstanding.

Training Crows to Clean Up

The story of training crows to clean up isn't new. In 2018, a park in France trained crows to pick up litter, including cigarette butts. A falconer there came up with the idea after watching crows scratch the ground. He taught them to pick up small trash like paper wrappers and cigarette butts.

Other Projects

Other projects have tried similar ideas. In the Netherlands, a group called Crowded Cities used a device called the Crow Box to train crows to bring cigarette butts for food. Though their project didn't last, they helped train another group in France called Birds for Change. This group is still experimenting with Crow Boxes in different places, like Paris and Aix en Provence.

Conclusion

So, while the idea of crows cleaning up cigarette butts is clever, the 2025 rumor about a Swedish city doing this was false. However, real projects have shown that training crows to help clean up is possible. It's an interesting way to use nature to solve human problems.