Friday, May 28, 2010
Franklin Street has a bigger cigarette butt problem; we cannot lie
While health department officials are quick to celebrate the obvious benefits of an indoor-smoking ban, smokers have been pushed outside, their butts now flapping in the wind.
- Photo courtesy of TRU
- Students display their bags of butts.
Members of the Downtown Partnership used to same method to collect 5,784 butts in 2008, but they saw that number drop to just 3.538 four months later after ashtray receptacles were provided to smoke-heavy locations.
Students found only five receptacles during their count, down from 13 in 2008. Smokers didn’t take the time to find them, offloading their unwanted nicotine remnants in flowerbeds, tree grates and along the bricks.
The Downtown Partnership plans to push for more cigarette discarding locations to cure the problem.
Comments (2)
Showing 1-2 of 2
We really need for local police departments to actually enforce littering laws. Throw hefty $250 fines on people throwing butts on the ground, and you'll quickly see them stop. And the money the government collects from the fines would be a plus, too.
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When the city of Chapel Hill cleans up the butts, what is the cost? Shouldn't Chapel Hill impose a tax on cigarettes to pay for cleaning up the butts and disposing of them properly.
I hope that someone knows how to properly dispose of the deadly toxins contained in the cigarette filters, and how to properly dispose of the non-biodegradable filters.
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