# The World Is Not Your Trash Can **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 6, 2008, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401 "2008-09-06T22:30:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/81 "2008-09-08T22:32:38Z")
This thread went pretty well, and I appreciate the support, but I can understand the view that throwing cigarette butts on the ground is not exactly a Crime Against Humanity. However, it seems like it would take such little effort to just hang onto the crushed butts until you get to a trash can, that it is a shame not to do so. _I_ wouldn’t want to carry around a bunch of cigarette butts in my pocket, but for a smoker, who already smells like smoke, it doesn’t seem like that big a deal. ---
**Author:** ![Arac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c37758/32.png) [@Arac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arac)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/82 "2008-09-09T00:47:05Z")
The vitriol people can muster over something so inconsequential utterly, utterly amazes me. It must be an American thing, as I remember a time when I was on a trip with two young American ladies, one of whom who thought cigarette-smoking was a crime comparable with genocide: “And the cost of your health care drives up the price of mine!” sayeth the vegetarian lass. “Ah, but here in our socialist, European utopia, they tax us violently on the cigarettes! Fully more than 150% of the cost of a pack is tax, so not only does my lifetime habit pay for my national health care, it probably props up some other peoples’ too!” “NO! NONONONO! SMOKING IS EVIL! BAD! DON’T DEFEND IT!” … And she then proceeded to be not-talking-to-me for the rest of the night. A bit off-topic, I realise, but it speaks of the same blind hatred that we’ve seen from some in this thread. I’m with 5-HT on this: I’ll make an effort to dispose of my butts properly where possible, but where it’s not, I’m not going to lose sleep over adding another half-inch of plastic crap to the layer of human crud plastered over the world already. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/83 "2008-09-09T00:58:04Z")
> [@Arac](#): > > “Ah, but here in our socialist, European utopia, they tax us violently on the cigarettes! Fully more than 150% of the cost of a pack is tax, so not only does my lifetime habit pay for my national health care, it probably props up some other peoples’ too!” No, it does not. I don’t have the time to google-fu at the moment, but this being the dope, I’m sure an intrepid doper will help out… ---
**Author:** ![Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/13edae/32.png) [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interconnected_Series_of_Tubes)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/84 "2008-09-09T01:12:44Z")
> [@Skara\_Brae](#): > > Here you go: [Ingestion of Cigarettes and Cigarette Butts by Children -- Rhode Island, January 1994-July 1996](http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00046181.htm) > > 30 cases serious enough to send kids to the hospital…no deaths, luckily. I’m not sure whether you’ve got an axe to grind on the subject or not, but this reference is pure hilarity. > [@](#): > > Controls were determined using the 1996 RIHIS (a representative stratified random-digit-dialed survey of telephone-equipped households in Rhode Island) and included persons in households with at least one cigarette smoker (i.e., smoked cigarettes now) and at least one child aged less than or equal to 6 years. Factors assessed included history of ingestion of toxic substances, types of tobacco products used in the household, storage of cigarettes, location of ashtrays, household smoking policies, and type of child care. Hmm, that looks reasonable. Does anyone honestly think children are crawling through our gutters and snacking on the soggy cigarettes they can find? No, it’s smokers who leave their butts around the house. :dubious: > [@](#): > > Symptoms were reported in 30 (33.3%) of the children and included spontaneous vomiting (up to four episodes) (26 {87%}), nausea (two {7%}), pale or flushed appearance (two {7%}), lethargy (one {3%}), and gagging (one {3%}). Thirteen (14%) of the children had been taken to a health-care facility. All 30 children recovered fully within 12 hours. Oh noes! The childrens! They’re…feeling a little shitty. I probably would too if I took a bite of a cigarette. But any parent letting their infant fondle coffin nails is a fucking idiot, anyways. Honestly I’m not condoning smoking in general or even littering, the former of which I do rarely and the latter rarely still. But its nice to know that all the pansies whining about the nicotine yellowed earth-slayers are still full of hyperbole bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/85 "2008-09-09T02:56:36Z")
ITT: society’s trash trashes society. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/86 "2008-09-09T05:04:36Z")
Jeez gang. Is there any smoker who doesn’t throw his cigarette on the sidewalk? Put another way, are ashtrays that fold up and fit into a pocket even available? (A: Yes (somewhere) and perhaps they sell a couple of dozen per year.) I don’t like it, but 5-HT’s behavior seems typical. Too bad for those who have to clean up after them. ---
**Author:** ![CutterJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@CutterJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CutterJohn)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/87 "2008-09-09T09:26:16Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Why? Do you toss the spent butts around your house, or do you throw them away? I do. Or at least did when i smoked. Not inside the house, but outside? Open season. I also tossed them wherever I felt like it when i was outside, aside from certain exceptions out of respect and safety. I also tossed them right over the side of the ship when i was in the navy. I don’t care because they are virtually invisible most places, excepting where smokers congregate en mass(but i normally used the can if one was close by), and are harmless except for the fire hazard. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/88 "2008-09-09T10:47:30Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Then the city does not often make it easy to find a trash can. It’s next to impossible to find one in the Siam Square area. After a series of bomb blasts on New Year’s Eve 2006 (suspected to have been caused by people connected ot the recently ousted Thaksin), public trash cans were removed. They were finally replaced a few months later with transparent receptacles. > > And the street cleaners do a fantastic job of keeping the trash swept up. I don’t envy these unsung heroes. Third day after my arrival on Bangkok, after a job interview I decided to take a walk, a long walk as I like 'em. To get to know the place and to loosen up to it. Of course it was hot and sticky like the devil’s armpits so I bought a 7Up can to sip along. I kid you not, I walked 5 kilometers\* with the darn thing in my hand before I found a trashcan. \* - From the Ekamai/RamaIX intersection, to RCA, to Ratchada, down some winding sois and somehow arriving to the Emporium mall where I finally saw a bin.\* ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/89 "2008-09-09T16:29:46Z")
Jeez Louise, people, field strip the sucker, scatter the remaining tobacco, and put the filter in your pocket. Empty your pocket when you find a garbage can. It’s fun to do, even, disassembling the butt like that. I’m not even a smoker and I know how to do this. What’s the problem? Too much trouble? Cry me a river. If stripping your butts is such a hassle, I can imagine how agonizingly timeconsuming you find it to wipe your ass. Or is it that they’re filthy things, covered with your spit and nicotine, nothing you want in your pocket? That being the case, do you really think the rest of us want to deal with your crap? Of course, I gather you just don’t care. I’m willing to bet that more people than just a tiny handful on the SDMB think this is disgusting and reprehensible. In fact, most places I go your behavior is considered absolutely disgusting, akin to taking a shit in the street. But you’re a crazy butt-throwing rebel, man! Down with the establishment! Down with the fascist oppressors! ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/90 "2008-09-09T16:30:35Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > Third day after my arrival on Bangkok, after a job interview I decided to take a walk, a long walk as I like 'em. To get to know the place and to loosen up to it. Of course it was hot and sticky like the devil’s armpits so I bought a 7Up can to sip along. > I kid you not, I walked 5 kilometers\* with the darn thing in my hand before I found a trashcan. > \* > > - From the Ekamai/RamaIX intersection, to RCA, to Ratchada, down some winding sois and somehow arriving to the Emporium mall where I finally saw a bin.\* Oh, I believe you. People may think we’re exaggerating, but we’re not. They have finally started putting out more bins at some bus stops, though, those clear-bag ones. I believe you arrived not too long after the New Year’s Eve bombs, after which all bins got whisked away until the new clear ones could be put out. But it still ain’t all that easy to find a rubbish bin when you really want one. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/91 "2008-09-09T17:17:52Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Jeez gang. Is there any smoker who doesn’t throw his cigarette on the sidewalk? Put another way, are ashtrays that fold up and fit into a pocket even available? > > (A: Yes (somewhere) and perhaps they sell a couple of dozen per year.) Yes, actually. [You can even get them for free](http://www.cigarettelitter.org/index.asp?pagename=FreeAshtrays) if you pay for the postage. They even sell [ashtrays that fit to the outside of your car](http://x-tray.com/id2.htm) so you don’t have to throw burning cigarettes on the street. There is simply no excuse. Well, unless you consider selfish arrogance an excuse. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/92 "2008-09-09T17:35:13Z")
> [@5-HT](#): > > I’ve had cigarette butts fly back into the car plenty of times, one time it burnt a small hole in my shirt but usually it just lands on a seat or the floor and burns itself out. > > Even if the butt did start burning something, one would think you’d smell that and pull over. The materials in a car just don’t burst into flames, it takes a while. I’ve _thrown_ a burning butt back into a car. Some asshole like you thought he had a right to toss bits of smoldering trash all over the place. ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/93 "2008-09-09T17:37:35Z")
> [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](#): > > I’m not sure whether you’ve got an axe to grind on the subject or not, but this reference is pure hilarity. Some asked whether nicotine poisoning existed, and couldn’t find a cite. I provided one. Whatever. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/13edae/32.png) [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interconnected_Series_of_Tubes)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/94 "2008-09-09T17:59:34Z")
> [@Skara\_Brae](#): > > Some asked whether nicotine poisoning existed, and couldn’t find a cite. I provided one. Whatever. :rolleyes: Which is, you know, why I added that disclaimer. I assumed you were simply mining the relevant data. The fact that the reference is completely worthless as an assertion that cigarette litter is in anyway harmful to children is isolated from you by the fact that you don’t have a dog in the fight. This is sounds very familiar to what I already posted - why don’t you calm down? Have a smoke, or something. > [@Baldwin](#): > > I’ve _thrown_ a burning butt back into a car. Some asshole like you thought he had a right to toss bits of smoldering trash all over the place. So you decided that because somebody was slightly lazy and a bit inconsiderate (points which aren’t really in contention here,) you took it upon yourself to **throw burning material into somebody’s car**? What a fucking nutcase. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/95 "2008-09-09T18:11:05Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Jeez gang. Is there any smoker who doesn’t throw his cigarette on the sidewalk? Usually these threads feature at least several smokers claiming to be model citizens who’d never, ever toss cigarette litter anywhere but in a trash can. This time “it’s my party and I’ll make a mess if I want to” seems to be the dominant theme. I’ve mentioned elsewhere the recent finding by the **Jackmannii Institute of Applied Smoking Research** , that there is a virtual 100% correlation between tapping cigarette ash out a car window and the likelihood that when the smoke is finished, the butt will come flying out too. The degree of correlation between this behavior and tossing butts on the sidewalk is incompletely known, but is likely to be in the same range. > [@Interconnected](#): > > …its nice to know that all the pansies whining about the nicotine yellowed earth-slayers are still full of hyperbole bullshit. Yuh, _real_ men cough up a lung and haul around their portable oxygen tank with macho insouciance. ---
**Author:** ![spinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@spinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spinky)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/96 "2008-09-09T18:21:22Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > I have to say I did not approve of my dad’s reaction, though, which was to pick up all the butts, put them in a plastic bag, and put it on the neighbor’s front porch with a note telling him to knock it off. Passive aggression is not the answer. Passive aggression? I don’t think that phrase means what you think it means. ---
**Author:** ![Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/13edae/32.png) [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interconnected_Series_of_Tubes)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/97 "2008-09-09T18:28:50Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > … > Yuh, _real_ men cough up a lung and haul around their portable oxygen tank with macho insouciance. More hyperbole, more bullshit. You **do** realize that it’s possible to enjoy tocabbo without instantaneously blackening your every internal organ into a carbonized, calciferous mass of antisocial, blackened ubercancer, right? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/98 "2008-09-09T19:56:52Z")
> [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](#): > > \ > So you decided that because somebody was slightly lazy and a bit inconsiderate (points which aren’t really in contention here,) you took it upon yourself to **throw burning material into somebody’s car**? What a fucking nutcase. Not “slightly lazy” and a “bit inconsiderate” - a lawbreaker doing something that had the potential to cause serious damage. I think giving someone back what they littered is completely fair. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/99 "2008-09-09T20:52:45Z")
> [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](#): > > More hyperbole, more bullshit. You **do** realize that it’s possible to enjoy tocabbo without instantaneously blackening your every internal organ into a carbonized, calciferous mass of antisocial, blackened ubercancer, right? Sure, you can enjoy tocabbo without health consequences (I assume you’re referring to that card game Italian men play when they’re too old for bocce). 😃 You _do_ realize that health consequences of smoking go far beyond “ubercancer”, and that my previous comment could just as easily apply to chronic bronchitis and emphysema, which so often brighten the declining years of smokers? ---
**Author:** ![Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/13edae/32.png) [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interconnected_Series_of_Tubes)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/100 "2008-09-09T21:42:52Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Sure, you can enjoy tocabbo without health consequences (I assume you’re referring to that card game Italian men play when they’re too old for bocce). 😃 > > You _do_ realize that health consequences of smoking go far beyond “ubercancer”, and that my previous comment could just as easily apply to chronic bronchitis and emphysema, which so often brighten the declining years of smokers? Tocabbo… Sounds like somewhere I might go on vacation. Maybe the ubercancer has already metastasized into the socially conscientious and speeling centers of my brain! I’m not implying that it’s a harmless habit by any stretch of the imagination - and not even that casual cigarette use doesn’t have consequences. Everything is a compromise on some level and rather than spout alarmist sensationalism I wish the anti-smoking mob would just shut the fuck up and acknowledge that their distaste with the habit is a personal value judgment. But I’m sure they’ll all live forever on a pristine path of self-denial stout upstanding morality. Er, sorry for the hijack - you guys can all call me an asshole some more now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401.md?page=6)