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Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2007––the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months. Get your dose, starting Boxing Day and running into the new year, three times a day––sunrise, noon, and sunset.
There were obvious benefits to 2006's Smoke Free Ontario Act, which did away with smoking in public areas and enclosed workplaces. The elimination of self-contained smoking sections, however, brought a disgusting side-effect: mounds of used cigarette butts scattered on the sidewalk outside bars and restaurants. Even sandpails and ashbins provided at the doors of some venues don't help the problem much, and smokers who normally wouldn't just toss their trash on the ground don't seem to consider used cigarettes as litter, despite butts being ubiquitous underfoot.
An American study showed that, worldwide, smokers toss at least 4.5 trillion butts on the ground every year, and that's not only revolting to look at, but causes significant environmental damage. Cigarette filters are made of non-biodegradable polymer acetate (read: plastic), and discarded butts start fires, kill small animals, and are the most common item washing up on beaches. A 2006 City of Toronto litter audit [PDF] found that cigarette butts were the fourth most common small litter item, after chewing gum, paper, and glass pieces.
So—Toronto's smokers need to step up and find proper disposal options, just as bars and restaurants should consider providing receptacles for their customers. Significant environmental problems aside, the used cigarette debris fields are just plain nasty to look at (well, maybe not for everyone).
Photo by Melsky from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
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As a cyclist, I've actually been hit by butts flicked into the street on two different occasions, both times by people standing right beside ash bins. When I voiced my disapproval at having their disgusting habit flung into my shirt, both smokers berated me like it was my fault.
I don't think those people are representative of all smokers, but it's hard to tell some days. If you have the time and energy to spend five minutes of your life shortening your life by five minutes, you have the time and energy to dispose of your waste properly.
It's the most curious thing with cigarette butts.
We have reached the stage, as a society, where cigarette butts are the last form of socially acceptable litter. If someone walking down Yonge St. tossed an empty pop can, or a hamburger wrapper on the ground, they would - quite rightly - be upbraided by some passer-by. It just isn't done anymore. If you have litter, you hold onto it until you can dispose of it, even if it means walking with an empty can for a couple hundred metres.
Yet that same person flicking a butt on the sidewalk doesn't get the same reaction. It hardly seems like this is a *societal* problem, where we've simply made it too damn inconvenient for smokers to dispose of butts. Rather, smokers have to step up and be accountable. When you're done with your cigarette, hold onto it until you can throw it out...just like with anything else.
Thanks for using my photo for this story!
In front of just about any bar without a smoking patio you'll find a pile of cigarette butts.
Maybe not all smokers, but I`ll betcha most do it.
Didn't Montreal have a campaign recently where they gave out portable ashtray pouch devices that gave smokers a convenient place to put there butt until they found a place to dispose of it?
Some many smokers feel they have a right to pollute the air, so why should they worry about the ground?
(In the interests of full disclosure, I quit a 2 pack a day habit in 1990)
Not to defend smokers who dispose of their butts on the ground, but I think I know why they do it. Sort of a lesser-of-two-evils thing. I personally would prefer they do this rather than erupting into flames on the elevator ride back upstairs. Or just stinking like a wet ashtray when back inside.
Whoever operates the building the smokers have emerged from ought to maintain the smoking area and provide appropriate disposal facilities.
A similar problem exists on the TTC. There are quantities of litter under the platforms, which sometimes even catch fire, causing delays. Nowhere on the cars or platforms is there anywhere to put litter. Supposedly an anti-terrorism measure. Theoretical concerns overshadow actual managerial challenges. Litter is real. They *sell* litter right inside the stations. Between the confection stands, newspapers, and their treasured paper based transfer system there is no shortage of officially sanctioned litter, not to mention what people bring into the system. There are ways of providing for waste. If those who operate space make no provision for people to behave well, then they misbehave.
I am thankful that building owners have not yet decided to get out of the business of providing toilet facilities for their paying occupants. ("Not part of our core business, you know")
Ever been on one of *those* elevators?
In Japan, people carry little boxes to place their butts into because it is considered disrespectful to throw your butts on the ground. Maybe people should start using their disposable coffee cups to hold butts?
I had a letter on this subject published in NOW 4 years ago. It's especially noticeable in the winter, as melting snow and the trample of feet reveal the heaps of butts inconsiderate smokers thought they could hide. As I said in my letter, bars and restaurants and clubs (all places where smokes congregate at the door to feed their drug addiction) should be responsible for the litter of their patrons.
I am so tired of cigarette butts littering the city streets! Why should the rest of the world have to suffer for smokers and their rotten habit (I guess shortening my life via second-hand smoke wasn't enough?) There is NO JUSTIFICATION for littering, period! As a lifetime resident of Toronto, I remember smokers on the TTC (some a-holes still try to pull this off on bus platforms, and gutless TTC employees let it pass), movie theatres, and even my doctor's office.
Smokers had it way too good for far too long. Don't let the world be your ashtray.
I've even seen a smoker on the subway platforms. St. George station, no less.
Hi, in Sweden we have the same problem with butts on the ground. Last year a clean-up-organisation and the gowerment in Stockholm introduce a mobil buttscollector Cigbuster. You can see and have more information about Cigbuster on the http://www.cigbuster.com
I am a smoker and I use Cigbuster every day. And I recommend this smart item