City of Sydney marks Butt Free City campaign

The City of Sydney recently held a Butt Free City environmental campaign with seven other Australian capital cities to encourage smokers to be more concerned about how they dispose of their butts.

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP said cigarette butt littering is a serious environmental issue.

“Discarded cigarette butts end up in storm water drains, creeks, rivers and dams,” Ms. Moore said. “This campaign is about modifying the behavior of smokers rather than simply issuing fines for littering.”

It is estimated that Australian smokers drop about seven billion cigarette butts a year which end up in waterways like Sydney Harbor.

Sweets, information cards and personal ashtrays were handed out to smokers during the two-week Butt Free City campaign around the city’s ‘butt hot spots’.

A team of people talked to smokers throughout the City of Sydney and there were street theatre and appearances by Bernie the Butt.

The City of Sydney’s Butt Free City campaign was funded by the City’s Clean Harbor Partners Program.

The single most common litter item in Australia is the cigarette butt. Cigarette butts make up half of the litter in NSW. Other common litter includes small pieces of paper, chip and confectionery wrappers, fast-food packaging, bottle caps, glass pieces, glass alcohol bottles, plastic straws and soft drink bottles (both plastic and metal).

Over 32 billion cigarette butts are discarded in Australia each year – if placed end to end they would extend 640 000 kilometers and circle the planet 16 times.

Cigarette butts make up 50 percent of litter items in NSW.
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More than nine billion butts are thrown away in NSW each year – if laid end to end they would span a distance of 180,000 kilometers. That’s four and a half times around the planet.

If all the butts in NSW went to landfill this would be approx 13,000 meters cubed of solid waste.

Cigarette smoke contains up to 4000 chemicals.

An estimated 100,000 tons of polluted air is exhaled by smokers in NSW each year.
Cigarette butts take up to five years to break down.

By Christine Khan

SYDNEY (eTurboNews)

March 31, 2005   Posted in: Australia