Cigarette Butts

[lusciousnichols.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure why I'm even posting this, perhaps it's just to vent or maybe, just maybe, someone has an idea?

I think we live in the coolest Square there is, and I'm really proud of it. But it makes me incredibly sad to see thousands of cigarette butts littered all over Davis Square. And to me, it's disgusting. It smacks of trashy, ill mannered and anti-green. And I don't need to go into the reasons why it hurts the environment, right?!

I read recently that 19% of Massachusetts smokes, which is better than the national average of about 25%.  I know this can't be true, but it seems like all 19% are doing their smoking in Davis Square. And I've never, not even *once*, watched a smoker dispose of their cigarette butt anywhere but on the ground. Smokers throws their butts to the ground, wherever they are, and whenever they like. Why is that okay? I guess I don't see this as any different from regular trash. Litter is litter.

I'm expecting the backward good old fashioned 'people-have-been-doing-this-forever-so-just-get-over-it' responses, but if we really were an unprogressive people, there would still be smoking indoors in public places and children would still be chewing lead paint off of window sills.

I'm not looking to denigrate smokers, I'm looking for solutions. Does anyone have any ideas to alleviate the litter?

Comments

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

There are other options. My office building has these weird butt disposal things basically shaped like a gourd. Since the only thing that fits in them is cigarettes, that's all that goes in. I think they have sand in the bottom.

[mkb-technologie.livejournal.com]

No, actually it's water! I've seen them catch on fire, actually, and spew foul filter-smoke.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

yeah, the one at my office catches on fire maybe once a year and it's amazing in such a horrible way

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Those would be great and I'd be happy for my tax dollars to go for a few more of them. Whether this will actually happen I'm not sure; it depends on whether the city would view it as a beautification project or takes a "fuck the smokers, they can just quit" attitude.