# Steophan, throwing cigarette butts on the ground IS littering **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 23, 2010, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078 "2010-10-23T06:04:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Chest\_Rockwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@Chest\_Rockwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chest_Rockwell)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/61 "2010-10-23T23:56:40Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > In [this thread about public behavior that annoys (but isn’t Pit-worthy)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=582798), **Steophan** keeps asserting the absolutely indefensible position that discarding cigarette butts on the ground, whether lit or extinguished, is “not really littering”. > > And ya know, that offense (the littering) might not be Pit-worthy, but the willful self-deception and delusional thinking that he exhibits in trying to justify and defend his attitude and position _is_ Pit-worthy, at least to me. > > It fucking _is_ littering, you jackass. There’s no way to construe that it isn’t littering. None. In fact, had you just taken the time to google “UK litter laws” (the phrase self-completes, btw), you’d have found that **you are fucking wrong in every way possible about this**. > > [ > > [url=[http://www.redcar-cleveland.gov.uk/Recyclin.nsf/WebFullList/6C69D3C81CF266B080256ECF003465D3?OpenDocument](http://www.redcar-cleveland.gov.uk/Recyclin.nsf/WebFullList/6C69D3C81CF266B080256ECF003465D3?OpenDocument)]]([http://www.stratford.gov.uk/files/seealsodocs/4271/Litter%20and%20the%20Law.pdf](http://www.stratford.gov.uk/files/seealsodocs/4271/Litter%20and%20the%20Law.pdf)) > > [url=[http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/quality/local/litter/law/lawlit.htm](http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/quality/local/litter/law/lawlit.htm)] > Stop dirtying up your community, your country and our planet, you ignorant degenerate moronic criminal fuckwad. > > Learn to read properly and then have someone patiently explain what all the big words like “illegal” mean before you start trying to use them yourself. Fucking twat. Obsess about things much? ---
**Author:** ![Chest\_Rockwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@Chest\_Rockwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chest_Rockwell)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/62 "2010-10-24T00:00:45Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > For those who didn’t read the other thread, I don’t smoke so it’s not me dropping the fag ends. I didn’t know it was illegal, now I do, so thanks **Snowboarder Bo** for the cites, **although you could’ve provided them in the other thread**. But that would mean that he couldn’t melodramatically get on his high horse and be needlessly, comically pissy in two different threads simultaneously. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/63 "2010-10-24T00:01:36Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > Bite me. I’m absolutely certain that as you go about your day, you leave some unpleasant trace of your existence. But that’s okay, because you’re not a demon smoker. :rolleyes: I don’t understand this defensive attitude from smokers. Because some you feel persecuted, that makes it okay to litter? I’ve heard smokers say things on this board like, “Well, perfume smells bad, too, but no one yells at the perfume wearers, just the smokers.” Just because someone else is obnoxious, that gives you a pass? ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/64 "2010-10-24T05:24:51Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > The point is figuring out what y’all think about that. It’s pretty dang obvious to anyone with half a clump of braincells huddling together that flinging butts wherever is gross, pollutes, and absolutely constitutes littering. That much is established. We _could_ generate 20 pages of straight-up, no holds barred circlejerk butt-flinger bashing, I suppose, but…yeah. > > Which wouldn’t adress more, err, fringe (?) considerations, such as flinging tobacco wherever. Is that littering, gross and polluting ? Shall I keep on doing so figuring it’s no big ? Does anybody even care ? \*\*Lynn \*\*seemed to imply she does. Hence the attempt to hash it over with her. > I’m not making a big deal about it, I didn’t even introduce the notion. And I don’t get why you’re snapping at me. ::sigh:: Tobacco, especially if it has additives in it, is poisonous. It’s SLIGHTLY less obnoxious than the butts, but only slightly. It’s still nothing that I’d want a kid or an animal to eat. Since you say that you’re already disposing of the butts properly, what’s stopping you from disposing of the tobacco properly, too? ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/65 "2010-10-24T05:34:04Z")
I’m one of the vanishingly rare non-smokers that actually doesn’t mind the smell of cigarette smoke, and doesn’t have a problem with smokers in general. Seriously, light up right next to me. I won’t mind. That said, throwing your cigarette butts on the ground is totally littering. It really doesn’t matter if there’s not a convenient trash receptacle or if it’s just habitual or whatever other excuse you want to use. Throwing your garbage on the ground is littering. If I blow my nose in public, I don’t throw the tissue on the ground. If my dog takes a crap in public, I don’t leave its shit on the ground. (Well, I don’t have a dog, but if I did, I wouldn’t leave its shit on a public walkway.) If I were a smoker, I wouldn’t throw my butts on the ground, either. It’s just common courtesy. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/66 "2010-10-24T06:18:54Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > There’s no such thing as a ‘workplace smoking area’. No workplace that I’m aware of provides a convenient place for smokers to smoke. They’re not particularly convenient but my employer’s HQ has designated smoking areas. ---
**Author:** ![rock\_party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@rock\_party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rock_party)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/67 "2010-10-24T06:59:14Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve heard smokers say things on this board like, “Well, perfume smells bad, too, but no one yells at the perfume wearers, just the smokers.” Just because someone else is obnoxious, that gives you a pass? They just don’t understand the stink they produce. Lets say the world was made up of 20% of people who use Aqua Net and they spray their hair for 7-10 minutes 20 times a day. If they weren’t allowed to spray their hair inside buildings they would gather at the entrance and spray away. Everyone walking in the building would walk through a cloud of Aqua Net. Of course they would always be allowed to spray their hair in bars and sections of restaurants. Funny thing about this hypothetical..Aqua Net smells BETTER than cigarette smoke. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/68 "2010-10-24T09:17:49Z")
> [@Chest\_Rockwell](#): > > Obsess about things much? I’m guessing… smoker? Like I mentioned upthread, I personally pick these disgusting things off of the local beaches. It’s a big fucking problem. Educate your dumbass. ---
**Author:** ![ratmanizhere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b5ac83/32.png) [@ratmanizhere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratmanizhere)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/69 "2010-10-24T09:42:29Z")
Why do I still feel like I’m at work?:rolleyes: I have some holier-than-thou nonsmokers where I work that complain about a few butts on the ground in a smoking area that’s tucked out of sight of most employees. Yet, these are the same people that wouldn’t give a second thought to the gum wrappers/ wads of paper/etc. that they leave on the floor around their desks in the various office spaces of the plant. I’m the one who has to clean up after these people on a daily basis, yet I endure the nonstop tirade of the fact that I smoke in the smoking area every time one of them spot me or any of the other workers that smoke. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/70 "2010-10-24T10:07:56Z")
The target of the OP doesn’t understand the level of anger? Well, maybe this will help. This summer, the building I live in flooded. All of us residents (20 apartments in a 4-floor building) had to bail water out of the entryways (small depression where you put your shoes upon entering the apartment–this is Korea, after all) and rotate towels to stem the tide. We did that for almost 14 hours straight. What caused a **four-story building** to flood, you ask? There’s this honking big water tank on top of the building. Of course it has a valve for runoff/overflow/whatever it’s called to maintain the water level. The problem was that the selfish/stupid/pieces-of-crap-for-human-beings in one apartment next door happen to live in a building just a wee bit higher than the one where I live. So, instead of taking the elevator down to the ground floor and smoking outside like a decent human being, they went up to the roof and tossed their litter (yes, it was litter then, it’s litter now, it’s always been litter) not on the roof of their own abode, but over onto the neighbors’ building. Now, in case you haven’t noticed, litter isn’t alive. So, it just gathered and finally plugged up the valve. That caused a 14-hour torrent of water through the ceiling hatch on the 4th floor. For safety (and insurance) reasons, the ceiling hatch is locked and only the building owner has the key. He did get to us as quick as he could, though he lives on the far side of the city. Yeah, I never thought that my 4th-floor apartment would get flooded either. Now, if those morons had bothered to go outside, then they no doubt would do like apparently the 20+ million Koreans who do smoke and just drop their nasty still lit litter onto the ground and not worry about it. The anger comes from the extreme selfishness of the jackass smokers. Hope that clarified the issue for the OP’s target. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/71 "2010-10-24T10:37:24Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Since you say that you’re already disposing of the butts properly, what’s stopping you from disposing of the tobacco properly, too? Don’t want to set bins on fire. It’s difficult to be sure to really have extinguished every last little ember of a cigarette without doing that. And if there is no bin or ashtray nearby, then how else am I supposed to extinguish a cigarette anyway ? Stomp it thoroughly underfoot, then pick up the butt ? More effort, exact same end result. (also, kids ?.. Are your kids in the habit of licking the pavement & gutters ? Because if so, forgive my bluntness but they have _way_ more issues than the remote possibility of tobacco poisoning :p) ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/72 "2010-10-24T11:08:08Z")
My kid is 31, but when she was a toddler, she, like every other kid in existence, would pick up and put in her mouth anything that caught her eye. Little kids WILL do this. I’d been brought up by helicopter parents, and was determined not to do that to my child. And dogs are notorious for scarfing things down. And if you’re worried about setting bins on fire, why aren’t you worried about setting wildfires? Just about every trash can I see that’s in the open has an ashtray on top, specifically so that fires won’t start. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/73 "2010-10-24T12:54:18Z")
> [@rock\_party](#): > > Funny thing about this hypothetical..Aqua Net smells BETTER than cigarette smoke. I’m going to need a cite on that. And I do say things to perfume wearers. If were not intimately close and I can smell it, it is too much. If it assaults my nostrils with an acrid stench, its insult time. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/74 "2010-10-24T13:57:06Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > My kid is 31, but when she was a toddler, she, like every other kid in existence, would pick up and put in her mouth anything that caught her eye. Little kids WILL do this. I’d been brought up by helicopter parents, and was determined not to do that to my child. And dogs are notorious for scarfing things down. I daresay there’s a happy medium to be found between helicopter parenting and letting kids lick the pavement for tobacco fibers, but then I’m no parent so I’ll grant you this is academic :). > [@](#): > > And if you’re worried about setting bins on fire, why aren’t you worried about setting wildfires? Just about every trash can I see that’s in the open has an ashtray on top, specifically so that fires won’t start. Precious few dry forests or bushes to set aflame in downtown Paris. And our bins don’t have ashtrays on them, in fact many of them are 100% plastic. The majority of the more recent ones are just a metal circlet tied to a post, with a thing plastic lid and a bin bag hanging loosely from it. Cheap and 100% serviceable, makes garbagemen lives much easier, but it makes even stubbing cigarettes on them something of a daft move. ---
**Author:** ![Chest\_Rockwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@Chest\_Rockwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chest_Rockwell)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/75 "2010-10-24T16:01:34Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > I’m guessing… smoker? Wrong! But thanks for playing! ---
**Author:** ![rock\_party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@rock\_party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rock_party)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/76 "2010-10-24T16:38:54Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by rock party > Funny thing about this hypothetical..Aqua Net smells BETTER than cigarette smoke. > [@](#): > > I’m going to need a cite on that. It’s subjective, true…but both smells could gag a maggot. But how about a combination of the two? Ever get near a smoking womans day old bee hive? Odoriferously horrifying! ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/77 "2010-10-24T20:57:14Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Carrying cigarette butts stinks to high heaven. > > The rich irony of that statement is almost too much to bear. +1 ---
**Author:** ![cedman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cedman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cedman)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/78 "2010-10-25T10:57:05Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > That’s what I do. I pinch out the burning coal out the window of the car and toss the butt into my ashtray. That’s where they go! > > Incidentally, its pretty infuriating to be behind someone that pitches a cigarette out of their car window on the interstate, only to have it bounce off the front end of your car, or worse (thinking of convertibles, motorcycle riders, etc). Even more infuriating when they pitch it out of their driver’s window and the sailing butt hits your mirror and the glowing coal flys in YOUR open window and drops down the neck of your shirt. I stopped when he stopped for gas a few minutes later and told him what happened; his reply? “Roll your g\*\* d\*\*\*ed window up!” He walked into the store (lighting up another cig) leaving the gas pump running. I pulled the hose out of his tank and put it into my tank. When my tank was full, I replaced the nozzle in his car and drove off. I did this because I REFRAINED from putting the hose in through his open window and filling up the floorboards with fuel. Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it! :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/79 "2010-10-25T12:18:32Z")
I used to be a smoker. If I could not find an appropriate ashtray, I would field-strip the butt, and carry the filter until I could find a place to dump it. I wouldn’t smoke in my car, not becuase I stank - my sense of smell was shot - but because I drove a convertible. > [@DianaG](#): > > [Quote=Bryan Ekers] > > Hey, you know what else is biodegradable? > > YOU! After you die of cancer! Shrug. Everybody dies of something. [/QUOTE] One day, I’m going to start a cigarette brand, with a big skull and crossbones and name it Cancer-Schmancer. I’ll make a billion dollars. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/80 "2010-10-25T13:34:03Z")
> [@cedman](#): > > …I pulled the hose out of his tank and put it into my tank… So you think it is ok to steal? What gives you the right to break the law and do something immoral just because someone else did something bad, which really wasn’t even on purpose? I think it’s pretty shitty of you to steal his gas. Just kidding, that was awesome. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078.md?page=5)