This October, Litter Free Dorset have collaborated with Litter Free Coast and Sea, Wimborne War on Waste and Litter Free Purbeck to launch the ‘Bin Your Butt’ campaign to tackle the issue of cigarette-related litter.
Litter Free Dorset aims to increase awareness that:
• Cigarette filters are the biggest plastic polluters – they do not readily biodegrade and can persist in the environment for up to 15 years. A recent Keep Britain Tidy survey found cigarette-related litter present at 79% of surveyed sites.
• Cigarette filters contain toxins and heavy metals that, if littered onto the ground and end up down street drains, can travel into rivers and the sea and leach toxic chemicals into water sources. One study found that a single cigarette butt can contaminate seven litres of water in just one hour.
• Cigarette butts can harm both terrestrial and marine animals that mistake the butts as food. Toxins released from ingested butts can be dangerous, whilst the butts themselves and other ingested pieces of plastic pollution can also accumulate also causing blockages, internal damage and ultimately death.
Cigarettes are frequently disposed of incorrectly, and often end up as litter on pavements or dropped down drains, instead of being extinguished and disposed of in a bin. Butts may be littered without thinking as it has become a socially accepted habit, by those who don’t realise the environmental impact of each dropped butt, or by others who aren’t nearby a bin or ashtray.
The campaign is set to be launched in Purbeck and Wimborne with campaign artwork displayed in bus shelters and pubs. Free portable ashtrays will also be available from participating pubs for smokers to use to store their cigarette butts in until they are able to responsibly dispose of them.
Interested in the campaign and want to spread the message further?
Help us by extinguishing your butts and disposing of them in bins! If you can’t see a cigarette bin nearby, why not buy a reusable portable ashtray or pick one up for free from your local, participating pub as part of the campaign.
Litter Free Dorset would like to invite everyone to support the ‘Bin Your Butt’ campaign:
• If you smoke, please always #BinYourButt and let others know why it’s so important to do so
• Follow the campaign via social media @LitterFreeDrst Share, Like, Comment! #BinYourButt
• Got a butt issue? Get in touch with Litter Free Dorset at litterfreedorset@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk to inquire into having campaign posters in your local area.
