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• Small item, big impact: littered cigarette butts in Oregon 

She lived in Japan in 1989 and 1990 as part of a government employee exchange. The Japanese carried pocket ashtrays to temporarily store cigarette butts. She didn't see many on the ground.

Somehow, Schallert came to realize, generally anti-litter Americans have concluded that cigarette butts aren't litter at all.

She's out to change that.

Legislation seeks a fine or community service

Schallert, backed by Oregon Rep. Carolyn Tomei, D-Milwaukie, is behind House Bill 2676. The half-page bill would make it a Class B misdemeanor to knowingly toss a butt, cigarette or cigar.

The penalty would be a fine or, perhaps more karmicly consistent, community service that includes clearing property of cigarettes, cigars and filters "unlawfully deposited on the property."

"I see Oregon as an environmental leader, with the beach bill, with the bottle bill," says Schallert, 56. "I'd like to reach a consensus that (tossing cigarette butts) is not OK. If you're the person cleaning it up, you really notice it."

3.2 million butts picked up in 2008 at beaches, waterways

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