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ACSID Looks to Give the Boot to Cigarette Litter on Atlantic Avenue  

In an effort to reduce the impact of unsightly litter gracing Atlantic Avenue, the Atlantic City Special Improvement District (ACSID), in conjunction with Keep America Beautiful, Inc. (KAB), has implemented the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program along a designated portion of Atlantic Avenue between North Carolina and Kentucky avenues.

The ACSID secured a $500 grant from KAB and provided an extra $765 towards the purchase of six (6) 4.5 gallon steel outdoor cigarette urns. Heavy duty, weather-resistant and fire-safe, these urns come complete with a three-sided message center that will allow for point-of-display advertising of the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program along Atlantic Avenue.

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No Smoking Outside the Bar, Either 

Although called the indoor clean air act, some local bar owners are catching flak due to people smoking outside their establishments. Apparently, the law's definition of indoors extends 25 feet from any entrance.

Robert Eddington, owner of Murphy's Bar and Grill at 160 S. Main, received a complaint from the Salt Lake Valley Health Department for "letting customers smoke within 25 feet of the door entrance." It was a pretty vexing charge for Eddington, who says the person smoking too close to the bar wasn't actually a patron, but a passer-by.

Despite attempts to modernize Salt Lake City's downtown nightlife, the staff of Murphy's feel they've been stuck with an unfair complaint. For manager Steve Evans, it doesn't help that the bar is so close to Temple Square.

"I think they give us a harder time just because we're so close to Mormon Disneyland ," he says.

Ironically, what attracted the complaint from the Health Department was not the smokers, but an attempt by the bar's staff to prevent cigarette butts from littering the sidewalk. "It seems the complaint was the ashtray, so I threw the ashtray in the dumpster," says Eddington. "Now that they have done their due diligence and saved the city from an ashtray, people can throw their cigarette butts on the sidewalk, in the planter boxes or in the gutter."

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Hold on To Your Butt! 

Cigarette butts are the most littered item in The United States and the world. This type of litter is not just found in streets and urban settings; the number of cigarette butts found on beaches can be overwhelming--typically accounting for nearly one in every five items collected during a beach cleanup. To make matters worse, butts are often cast onto the sidewalk and streets, and then end up in drains, which flow to streams, rivers, bays, lagoons and ultimately the ocean.

Hold Onto Your Butt Awareness Day will involve activists, volunteers, and friends of the environment gathering on San Diego's busiest traffic intersections as people arrive at the beach. There, Surfrider activists will hold signs, pass out personal ashtrays, stickers and graphically demonstrate to motorists the problem we're so concerned about. We will encourage motorists and beachgoers to dispose of cigarettes safely, and explain that cigarette butts thrown on the ground can eventually end up in the ocean and affect marine life, including surfers and swimmers. . . .

Our Chapter, along with American Lung Association, the American Heart Association and other organizations fighting cigarette litter, held a press conference with the Californian Highway Patrol (CHP) and San Diego Fire Department to announce that the CHP is cracking down on smokers who throw their butts out the car window while driving. The CHP joined our coalition efforts by setting up a hotline number that people can call if they see cigarette butts being tossed onto our streets and highways. After the phone call is received, the CHP will send a warning letter to the alleged violator. The hotline number, 1-877-211-BUTT, has already been successful! Our Chapter has been working on our Hold On To Your Butt campaign for years and we are delighted to be part of such a broad-based coalition. . . .

DID YOU KNOW? Cigarette butts are the most littered item in The United States and the world. . . .

* 18% of all litter dropped to the ground is washed into streams, rivers, lakes and the ocean by storm water runoff. Cigarette butts, are little and lightweight and are the first to get carried away into our waterways.0

* Studies indicate that since we have enacted indoor smoking bans, more cigarette butts are being tossed directly into the environment. Unfortunately, this means that ecosystems have a higher chance of being affected by cigarette butts. Biologists have found butts in the stomachs of young birds, sea turtles and other marine creatures.

* Cigarette butts can cause other environmental problems, such as fires. . . .

Ultimately, the Surfrider Foundation is calling for better enforcement of laws against cigarette butt littering; additional taxes on tobacco products specifically earmarked for clean-up efforts; more effort on the part of tobacco companies to improve the biodegradability of filters, reduce packaging waste and educate consumers about the impacts of tobacco waste on the environment; and more local involvement from governments and businesses to reduce cigarette littering by supplying ashtrays and other "disposal mechanisms" at building entrances.

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• Hold On To Your Butt Awareness Day is Saturday, November 14th  

In an effort to raise awareness of the cigarette butt litter problem and reduce the amount of cigarette butt litter in the region, the Surfrider Foundation San Diego County Chapter will be conducting Hold Onto Your Butt Awareness Day on Saturday, November 14 from 10 a.m. to noon at three locations in San Diego County.

Cigarette butts are the most littered item in The United States and the world. This type of litter is not just found on streets and in urban settings; the number of cigarette butts found on beaches and nearby areas is overwhelming--typically accounting for nearly one in every three items collected during a beach cleanup.

Cigarette waste discarded miles inland compounds the problem as it can end up in drains that flow to streams, rivers, bays, lagoons and ultimately the ocean. To make matters worse, lighted cigarette butts flicked into California's dry arid environment can spark deadly and costly wildfires.

Hold Onto Your Butt Awareness Day will involve activists, volunteers and friends of the environment gathering on San Diego's busiest traffic intersections as people arrive at the beach.

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Discarded cigarette butts add up to a huge problem for you, Earth  

Dear EarthTalk: Has anyone ever studied the environmental impact of discarded cigarettes? I'm constantly appalled at the number of drivers I see pitching their butts out their car windows.

- Ned Jordan, via e-mail

It's true that littered cigarette butts are a public nuisance, and not just for aesthetic reasons. The filters on cigarettes - four-fifths of all cigarettes have them -- are made of cellulose acetate, a form of plastic that is very slow to degrade in the environment. A typical cigarette butt can take anywhere from 18 months to 10 years to decompose, depending on environmental conditions.

But beyond the plastic, these filters, which are on cigarettes in the first place to absorb contaminants to prevent them from going into the lungs, contain trace amounts of toxins such as cadmium, arsenic and lead. Thus when smokers discard their butts improperly - out the car window or off the end of a pier or onto the sidewalk below - they are essentially tossing these substances into the environment.

Studies done by Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and even the tobacco industry itself show that these contaminants can get into soils and waterways, harm or kill living organisms and generally degrade surrounding ecosystems.

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THE PHANTOM: A new kind of smoking gun 

Menlo Park City Council Member Andrew Cohen obviously feels passionate about the city's plans to strengthen its existing smoking ordinance.

At a meeting Tuesday, the council discussed deeming smoking in certain areas a public nuisance. Cohen asked City Attorney William McClure whether such a designation would allow private citizens to request DNA testing in legal proceedings against smokers.

"If a citizen is entitled to pursue it as a nuisance, could they get cooperation from the police department to do DNA testing on cigarette butts?" Cohen asked. McClure was quick to dismiss that idea, saying police probably don't have the staffing for such an undertaking.

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Ridding City Of Butts  

While ordinances and state laws have kept public places free of smoke, it has increased the amount of cigarette litter on the street.

This month Keep Sidney Beautiful kicked off its Cigarette Litter Prevention Program to help fix that problem. The program is designed to help educate the public about properly disposing of cigarette butts. These strategically-placed ash trays serve as a reminder that partially-smoked cigarettes, matches and packaging all classify as litter.

Grant funding was used to purchase 11 ash receptacles to be placed in the downtown district.

Keep America Beautiful awarded Keep Sidney Beautiful $1,500 to purchase these receptacles.

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LETTER: Is a cigarette butt acceptable litter? 

Would an educated, considerate and articulate smoker please explain why flicking a cigarette butt out of a car window or otherwise tossing it on the road or sidewalk seems to be perceived by the cigarette-smoking population as an acceptable form of littering?

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Cigarette fines rise to nearly £500 after Bristol pair miss court date  

Two Bristol residents who dropped cigarettes in the street and failed to pay a fixed term penalty now have to pay nearly £500 each.

A street scene enforcement officer separately issued two residents (in Broad Walk and in the Centre) with a £75 fine, which allows fourteen days to pay.

Neither paid and the cases were taken to the Bristol Magistrates' Court last week. Neither turned up at court but each was fined £350, plus £120 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

A taxi driver, in an earlier case this month, refused to give his details to the street scene enforcement officer. He has been fined £550 plus costs because of his offence and for withholding his name and address.

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New bins for cigarette butts  

Up to 300,000 cigarette butts are dumped daily on the capital's streets.

After forking out millions of euro every year scooping up smokers' litter, Dublin City Council has unveiled 150 special bins in a bid to stub out the problem.

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Bin bid to beat smokers' litter  

Dublin City Council has unveiled 150 special bins in a bid to stub out the problem of cigarette butts being dumped on the street.

Council officials said the smoking ban had led to even more cigarette butts being dropped outside pubs and offices.

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Letter - Banning Smoking in Parks  

Re "Proposal of Smoking Ban Stirs a Sense of Tolerance" (news article, Sept. 16):

The construction workers interviewed in your article likened a proposed ban on smoking in parks to ticketing people for their perfume or body odor.

But the smells of perfume and body odor are annoying but not toxic.

Day after day in Manhattan I see selfish smokers throw their half-finished cigarettes onto the street, polluting the air (and my lungs) longer than necessary. Are they so lazy (and selfish) that they can't stamp them out first with their feet? . . .

Their "rights" should cease when they infringe on the rights of others.

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Guernsey | Fag butts litter has quadrupled 

Increased cigarette litter since the introduction of a smoking ban three years ago is a major problem, States Works said.

General manager Nigel Dorey said since smoking in enclosed places was banned in July 2006 the number of cigarette butts in streets has quadrupled.

He said: "The additional littering puts pressure on our resources and detracts from our work in other areas.

"Rural zones suffer as we have to spend more time cleaning in built up areas."

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• HALLETT: Opposing view: Take protections outside  

Kudos to New York City for planning to expand its smoke-free indoor air law to include outdoor spaces. Thousands of communities have 100% smoke-free indoor air laws, and many of those now have or are considering laws that expand protections to outdoor places where people gather or work, such as parks, beaches and dining areas.

In fact, 400 U.S. cities and Puerto Rico already have smoke-free parks laws in effect; 82 cities, the state of Maine, and Puerto Rico have smoke-free beach laws. An additional 158 cities and three states (Hawaii, Iowa and Maine) have smoke-free outdoor dining. Smoke-free outdoor spaces are quickly becoming the national norm, and we have the science and public support to continue moving in this direction.

Fueling interest in outdoor laws is the growing body of science on the negative health effects of secondhand smoke exposure outdoors and the environmental effects of cigarettes and toxic cigarette butts. In 2006, the California Air Resources Board classified secondhand smoke as a Toxic Air Contaminant and called it "an air pollutant which may cause or contribute to an increase in deaths or in serious illness."

Additional research demonstrates that individuals with compromised cardiovascular systems might be at risk from brief exposures to secondhand smoke, even outside. . . .

We applaud New York City for working to eliminate toxic contaminants and trash from parks and beaches, and expect to see more cities follow suit.

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• Santa Cruz approves smoking ban for Pacific Avenue, Beach Street, West Cliff Drive 

City leaders on Tuesday unanimously approved a smoking ban along Pacific Avenue, Beach Street and West Cliff Drive, among other spots, and agreed to consider a new fee on cigarette sales in the near future.

"Our kids are picking up cigarette butts, kids are breathing cigarette smoke and it doesn't encourage a family atmosphere," said Councilman Ryan Coonerty, who proposed the ban along with Councilmen Mike Rotkin and Don Lane at the prompting of many in town.

The ban was warmly received by the audience of about 40 people, most of whom supported the new rules. Corinne Highland told the council she hoped it would create a cleaner environment for her 3-year-old.

"My 3-year-old picked up a cigarette butt and I shrieked," she said.

Some encouraged the council to go even further and eventually ban all outdoor smoking in Santa Cruz.

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