Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Why do people drop cigarette butts?
I saw a programme the other day where on-the-spot fines were being issued to people dropping cigarette butts in another town ( I can't remember where). Suddenly I find myself noticing people doing this ALL THE TIME, even people who probably wouldn't dream of dropping an empty can or sandwich wrapper on the street. They especially do it at bus stops despite the clever little bins on lampposts for the purpose of extinguishing your cigarette - and you can see the evidence all over the pavements.
Apparently you can be fined £75 in Haringey for dropping any kind of litter, and this is certainly a filthy habit we could do without - cigarette butts are not biodegradeable and often find their way into the drains and thence into the sea. I reckon an enforcement officer could clean up pretty quickly and probably earn back their own salary just standing at our local bus stop all day.
Tags for Forum Posts: litter
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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If you think bus stops are bad, stay away from the tube entrances at Seven Sisters.
I wrote the same thing the other day, that a couple of fines per hour would pay costs . It would need at least two people, one with the paperwork and one to ward off the threats and refusals.
Bins need to be more obvious, and have big pictures on for non-readers (of English/of words).
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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on
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No doubt because they think that the money the government rakes in on taxes of cigarettes, justifys just throwing them down and covers the cost of cleaning up the mess two or threefold.
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LBH has done it here before. I don't know why they have stopped. I think they used PCSOs. Maybe some people accept that they did wrong?
This was in 2011. Court cases for not paying fixed penalty notices.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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There's no excuse Maddy. I smoke and never drop a fag end. It easy to stub it out and bin it or stick it back in the fag pack until you come across one or get home.
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How much longer are you going to demonise smokers in this self-righteous fascist way..? I've never smoked one cigarette in my life, but I'll defend the right for those who want to smoke to be able to do so. It's called freedom of choice and we give it up at our peril. I don't want to read any replies stating that the smokers will live longer if they give up. I'd rather they live 50 happy years with smoking, than 70 unhappy without.
Imagine what a state the country would be in if everyone lived to be 95 and all started collecting their pensions at 65. Thirty years of living off the state. The government rakes in millions in taxes from smoking, the reason it doesn't ban it completely. The danger of passive smoking is a drop in the ocean compared to other things that harm us, like vehicle exhausts.
It's time for the majority to back off from smokers and stop wasting the police's time with all this control-freakery, which seems to me, well barking mad. Go back to being a free country rather than this orwellian camera snooping nightmare. There are far more important things for the police to do.
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I guess they drop them because they think it's just one small thing. It's the accumulation that turns my stomach. There are little ridges of fag ends round all the pavement edges by the tube. They fill the gratings and can't be swept out. They don't break down because nicotine, as well as being a poison (I use it against greenfly) is a preservative.
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There's an American company called Greenbutts who make biodegradable filters but the problem is getting the big companies to take on the idea as they cost more
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Permalink Reply by Geraldine on
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Heartened by StephenBin's post. Smokers in Hong Kong have been demonized for so long. We have to smoke outside but, if we do, people walk past glaring and flapping their hands or holding their nose. What was once a tidy and clean city, where everyone used ashtrays, has become cig-end strewn. Plenty of ashtray/litter bins but often they aren't used and the cigarette end is tossed on the pavement, sometimes right next to the bin. Crazy!
My theory is this: that if you demonise someone, they will act like a demon. Give a dog a bad name and he will become bad. Please, if any HKers are reading this, treat smokers with respect. You may be surprised at the result.
Also, it's possible to buy those little Japanese portable ashtrays. I have one. Failing that, stub the cig out on the ground, wrap the end in a tissue and dispose of it when you can. That's what I do.
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Permalink Reply by Penny on
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In Japan smokers carry round a little pot / envelope that they put their fag butts in and then empty that in the bin when they can. I went to a festival and even there there were no fag butts on the ground...apart from near the British! Embarrassing really...
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Permalink Reply by Madeline on
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I totally agree. Cigarette stubs are litter as is chewing gum, paper etc. I absolutely hate it when I see people nonchalantly toss their stubs out into the road. Outside my local pub they have two large bins but still the patrons toss stubs out onto the road and pavement. Some of them even tread them out!? For some reason it's even worse when it been raining, that butt has to be flicked into the puddle. A friend of mine used to say that she didn't litter as she made sure she dropped her stubbs down a drain. ??? I pointed out the obvious to her but I don't think that it made any difference.
And I'm not one of these holier than thou non-smokers, I smoke like a trooper. But... I carry my own pocket ashtray with me, a little insulated pouch for dog ends and, as I smoke roll-ups, I use the odd cigarette paper to wrap my chewing gum in and that goes in the pouch as well.
On the subject of bins though I've noticed that a lot of them have been taken away. There's a big push to stop us all smoking so they must be thinking that if they don't supply a bin/ashtray it'll discourage us from the 'filthy habit'. But I think they've shot themselves in the foot on that one.
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Dropping down the drain is useless. It goes out with surface water straight into rivers so just dumps the problem elsewhere. On those outdoor ashtray things, a lot of places don't allow them anymore as they were a way of getting free advertising without paying for planning permission and no one seemed interested in emptying and cleaning many of them.
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