Smokers and their litter

[spankbank]

More of a rant really but I'm currently on holiday in Cyprus and it amazes and disgusts me the amount of cigarette ends on the beach.
It's the same the world over that I can see. I've visited over 40 countries and would not let my children play on beaches because of this. It really would turn my stomach if my children picked up one of these items.
It is foul and disgusting to leave your trash especially cigarette ends which are full of toxic chemicals just left in the sand.
Do smokers believe it is OK to just leave their dirty mess behind?

[Shakermaker]

You've answered your own question there.

Yes, enough of them do to make this a problem.

I had a mate years ago who used to smoke a ton, and he definitely did it because he thought it made him look a bit more interesting than he actually was and all that. But he would refuse to use an ashtray even when one was on the table in a pub garden and would always make a display of throwing the butt away somewhere else into the garden.

[TurboHatchback]

They certainly seem to, vile habit. All smokers seem to think that littering rules don't apply to them. They also seem to think it's fine to toss them out of cars whilst still lit so they can be ingested by the car behind which gets on my tits every time.

[Rude-boy]

Sounds like the beach goers and the second posters mate are knobs then.

I smoke, about 15 a day on average, and if on the beach or similar would tend to put all my butts in one place (usually an empty can or a Stubbi). Certainly when going round to friends houses i always collect my butts up and take them away either home or to a public litter bin to dispose of them - why on earth would i leave them around their garden?

There are enough angles of attack from those who would seek to impose their views upon me and try to preach at me that I try my damnedest not to give them the opportunity to increase their piety.

[Shakermaker]

Rude-boy said:

Sounds like the beach goers and the second posters mate are knobs then.

I smoke, about 15 a day on average, and if on the beach or similar would tend to put all my butts in one place (usually an empty can or a Stubbi). Certainly when going round to friends houses i always collect my butts up and take them away either home or to a public litter bin to dispose of them - why on earth would i leave them around their garden?

There are enough angles of attack from those who would seek to impose their views upon me and try to preach at me that I try my damnedest not to give them the opportunity to increase their piety.

The thing is, of course, people won't know to moan about you, because you are diligent enough to clean up after yourself and recognise that you are creating waste and removing it away.

Those who don't, are indeed the knobs we must worry about but sadly give those like you a bad name. But hence my "enough of them do" rather than "all of them"

[anonymous-user]

I saw this a smokers think or a Cypriot thing? There are loads of smokers in the uk, and many other countries and the beaches aren't covered in cigarette buts.

[Wobbegong]

TurboHatchback said:

They certainly seem to, vile habit. All smokers seem to think that littering rules don't apply to them. They also seem to think it's fine to toss them out of cars whilst still lit so they can be ingested by the car behind which gets on my tits every time.

I was in Winchester a few years back when someone chucked a lit fag out while parked in heavy traffic. Narrowly missed me so I picked it up and dropped it back in his car

I did the same to a chap who chucked his half full McDonalds milkshake out the car. Surprising how sticky that stuff is

[Xtriple129]

I'm a smoker, I smoke a lot. But when I'm out, I stub fags out and put the butts in my pocket (always got half a dozen in there) then put them in the bin at home.

Strangely, it was my dog that made me change my ways: she has suddenly become 'socially aware' and picks up rubbish on our walks and carries it home and deposits in it the little bin! Usually bottles and such but she brought home a 5 litre plastic container of anti-freeze the other day.

So, I pick up after myself and having gone many years without worrying about fag ends etc, now I do and hate them being dropped. Ho hum.

[coopedup]

Always pick up ANY of my rubbish, let alone my fag buts. Working as I do in a school one of my major moans is the amount of rubbish the little monsters deposit on the ground every day, even though we have over 60 bins all around the place that get emptied most days

[Goaty Bill 2]

spankbank said:

More of a rant really but I'm currently on holiday in Cyprus and it amazes and disgusts me the amount of cigarette ends on the beach.
It's the same the world over that I can see. I've visited over 40 countries and would not let my children play on beaches because of this. It really would turn my stomach if my children picked up one of these items.
It is foul and disgusting to leave your trash especially cigarette ends which are full of toxic chemicals just left in the sand.
Do smokers believe it is OK to just leave their dirty mess behind?

Nope.
When smoking cigarettes, I habitually look for the nearest council supplied cigarette bin or wall mounted box. When none is available, I roll the burning tobacco out the end and bin the filter.
When walking in parks, fishing, on a beach or any similar situation, I pop the remnant filter back into the cigarette box if nothing more appropriate is available.

Walking through most any town centre, one will notice gatherings of people around smoking bins (if available). The majority of smokers seem to have the message "let's not make life worse for ourselves than it already is".

A small piece of tissue thin paper made from wood, and a bit of dried, shredded plant leaf is hardly industrial scale toxic waste dumping. Walk through an empty car park and look at all the oil stains to put this into some perspective.
The cellulose filters are an entirely separate matter, and do not biodegrade quickly.

Measured by weight, I would imagine that the tonnage of cigarette ends is paltry when compared to crisp and chocolate bar and other snack packets, empty beer and drinks cans and the piles of plastic energy drink bottles. A walk through my local park would confirm this for anyone.

I fully agree it's disgusting to leave cigarette ends laying around. I, and many other smokers, simply don't do it.
For those that do; wake up please.

[MarshPhantom]

Wobbegong said:

TurboHatchback said:

They certainly seem to, vile habit. All smokers seem to think that littering rules don't apply to them.

Some smokers think the litter rules don't apply to them, people in general think the litter laws don't apply to them. Smokers are hardly a big problem as there are so few of them these days.

Do any contributors to this thread drive dirty diesels?

[V8A*ndy]

spankbank said:

It is foul and disgusting to leave your trash especially cigarette ends which are full of toxic chemicals just left in the sand.

Once seen one of those lobster red, dodgy tattoo, can of lager types just drop his still lit cigarette end onto the sand and then proceed to stub it out with his bare foot by mistake

Edited by V8A*ndy on Monday 19th September 11:16

[austinsmirk]

when in France last month, we visited a kids theme park thingy called Nigoland.

My word the French can smoke: because its outdoors, they're smoking everywhere, in queues, at the outside cafe table.

No litter (lots of bins) but genuinely the people stank, as did the "fresh" air.

You forget how much things have changed. I guess we wouldn't allow that widespread smoking to happen, it would be in those contained shelters.

Quite glad to leave the place: honestly the smokers spolit. But hey, c'est la vie.

[V8A*ndy]

Goaty Bill 2 said:

spankbank said:

More of a rant really but I'm currently on holiday in Cyprus and it amazes and disgusts me the amount of cigarette ends on the beach.
It's the same the world over that I can see. I've visited over 40 countries and would not let my children play on beaches because of this. It really would turn my stomach if my children picked up one of these items.
It is foul and disgusting to leave your trash especially cigarette ends which are full of toxic chemicals just left in the sand.
Do smokers believe it is OK to just leave their dirty mess behind?

Nope.
When smoking cigarettes, I habitually look for the nearest council supplied cigarette bin or wall mounted box. When none is available, I roll the burning tobacco out the end and bin the filter.
When walking in parks, fishing, on a beach or any similar situation, I pop the remnant filter back into the cigarette box if nothing more appropriate is available.

Walking through most any town centre, one will notice gatherings of people around smoking bins (if available). The majority of smokers seem to have the message "let's not make life worse for ourselves than it already is".

A small piece of tissue thin paper made from wood, and a bit of dried, shredded plant leaf is hardly industrial scale toxic waste dumping. Walk through an empty car park and look at all the oil stains to put this into some perspective.
The cellulose filters are an entirely separate matter, and do not biodegrade quickly.

Measured by weight, I would imagine that the tonnage of cigarette ends is paltry when compared to crisp and chocolate bar and other snack packets, empty beer and drinks cans and the piles of plastic energy drink bottles. A walk through my local park would confirm this for anyone.

I fully agree it's disgusting to leave cigarette ends laying around. I, and many other smokers, simply don't do it.
For those that do; wake up please.

I used to work in a pub.

There was a sign that said "When the floor's full please use the ash trays"

[Faust66]

Rude-boy said:

Sounds like the beach goers and the second posters mate are knobs then.

I smoke, about 15 a day on average, and if on the beach or similar would tend to put all my butts in one place (usually an empty can or a Stubbi). Certainly when going round to friends houses i always collect my butts up and take them away either home or to a public litter bin to dispose of them - why on earth would i leave them around their garden?

There are enough angles of attack from those who would seek to impose their views upon me and try to preach at me that I try my damnedest not to give them the opportunity to increase their piety.

Sadly, it seems like a surprising number of smokers don't 'get' this. When I've finished a smoke, the waste goes into a bin if there's one available or into a pocket ashtray to be disposed of later.

We have designated smoking shelters at work which have an ash tray at either end, yet people will still drop butts on the floor even though the proper receptacles are less than 2 paces away. If you remonstrate with them and ask them to use the bin in future, you are either met with a blank look or a "so what?" comment.

Some people are just aholes. If they aren't dropping fag butts, it would be a crisp packet or drinks can.

[Goaty Bill 2]

V8A*ndy said:

I used to work in a pub.

There was a sign that said "When the floor's full please use the ash trays"

Been to that place!
I used to hate that actually; pubs that didn't have ashtrays, it just goes against the grain to throw a cigarette on a floor.
I was told by one landlord that it was easier to sweep the butts off the floor every morning than to empty/clean ashtrays all night.

Of course, it's nearly impossible to burn a purpose made pub Axminster carpet.

[Countdown]

This thread reminds me of dog owners / dog mess. The inconsiderate and selfish ones give the rest a bad name.

[Dusty964]

TurboHatchback said:

They certainly seem to, vile habit. All smokers seem to think that littering rules don't apply to them. They also seem to think it's fine to toss them out of cars whilst still lit so they can be ingested by the car behind which gets on my tits every time.

All smokers?

In the same way that all McDonalds/KFC/Burger King/Subway customers throw the wrapper on the floor.
All Coke drinkers throw their cans out of cars?

Get a grip.

[milfordkong]

el stovey said:

I saw this a smokers think or a Cypriot thing? There are loads of smokers in the uk, and many other countries and the beaches aren't covered in cigarette buts.

Even the nicest UK beaches will sadly in my experience usually have a lot of cigarette butts in the sand - It's grim when you find a spot to lay your towel and no sooner have you laid down than you realise there's a horrible crumpled cigarette butt about six inches from your face.

I absolutely hate this, i'm not saying all smokers do it and thankfully it does seem to be slightly less of a problem than in the past, but a lot of smokers do have this bizarre idea that a cigarette butt is not litter... All litter is absolutely despicable and unnecessary but to be honest I'd much rather pick up a plastic bottle or a crisp packet that's been discarded than a cigarette butt that's spent its short life in between some unknown moron's lips before being flicked anywhere they see fit. Ugh!

[PAULJ5555]

Countdown said:

This thread reminds me of dog owners / dog mess. The inconsiderate and selfish ones give the rest a bad name.

Yeah same as cyclists going through red lights & not using cycle lanes, selfish gits no consideration. It happens in all walks of life in one way or another.