Last night I saw a young smoker throw her butt on the street. Rather than ignore this everyday occurance, I asked the girl why she didn’t just wait until she came to the trash can down the block. She had no response and looked at me like I was out of my mind. (I’m not. Besides the basic ugliness of littering, cigarette butts feed rats.) From her perspective, there was no real incentive for her to not throw her butt on the street. After all, all smokers do it. It’s part of the “rebel” factor that goes with being a smoker.
I’ve never been a smoker so I can’t really sympathize with the challenges of cigarette disposal. Seems to me, a responsible person could find some place other than the nearest street to can their butt and in doing so make life a little better for everyone. That said, I was amused to learn about LitterButt.com which empowers litter watchers to bust litterers. The idea is that if you see someone tossing a butt out of a car, you can post the license plate of the offender on the website. If the risk of being exposed as a butt litterer becomes big enough, I suspect the result will be fewer butts on the street and that would indeed make life a little bit better for all of us (even smokers who will benefit from cleaner streets, fewer rats and a clear conscience.)