Council joins forces to urge smokers to keep their cigarette butts out of our drains and rivers
19 Nov 2024 ARCHIVED (over 3 months old) - view latest news
The County Council is rolling out a new campaign to tackle cigarette littering down drains.
Partnering with Keep Britain Tidy, the campaign will be installed in Morpeth with posters and on-the-ground messaging to educate smokers that butts belong in bins, not drains.
The paint used for the on-the-ground messaging is non-toxic and will wash off within four weeks.
To encourage smokers to bin their butts, the campaign will see simple, easy to use bucket bins placed in litter hotspots.
Cigarette butt littering is a significant issue across England, accounting for 66% of all litter and costing local authorities a huge amount of money to clear up. Cigarette butts pollute the environment, watercourses, and marine environments, both when they are littered on the ground or down a drain.
The campaign is being run in towns and cities across England to urge smokers to keep their cigarette bins out of our drains and rivers, and to disrupt their behaviour at the moment of littering. So far, the charity’s interventions have managed to successful reduce litter down drains by 57%.
County Councillor Colin Horncastle, Cabinet Member for Looking After Our Environment said “Cigarette butts can cause a lot of problems in our drains and the environment.
“We hope that, by partnering with Keep Britain Tidy, we can educate smokers on the issues that they cause, encouraging them to find a bin to put their cigarette butts in, instead of dropping them on the ground, or down a drain.”
Morpeth Town Councillor, David Bawn said “This is an excellent initiative to highlight this issue. A timely reminder to smokers that butts need to be disposed of responsibly and not either left on the street or placed into gulleys which contributes to blockages and flooding.”
Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, Chief Executive of Keep Britain Tidy said “Many smokers believe that putting their butt down the drain is the right thing to do, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
“Once cigarette butts reach out waterways, they wreak havoc with the environment - in fact just one butt can contaminate up to 1,000 litres of water and harm wildlife. Our interventions have so far reduced cigarette litter in drains by 57%, and we are thrilled that Northumberland County Council is joining us to educate, change behaviours and substantially reduce cigarette litter.”