In America, don’t you have portable ashtrays?
When my husband and I used to smoke, we carried around small metal containers which we put our ash and butts into, then took home and emptied the contents in the bin.
We either carried them in our pockets, or attached to a belt loop on our pants, or on a strap around our neck, or in a bag which we may be carrying. Our attitude was that if we are able to carry ciggies and lighters, we can carry an ashtray too.
Is this solely a Japanese thing?
Yeah. But they’re called lungs.
Nothing irks me more than seeing some woman (I don’t see men do this often) holding her cigarette out the window of her car so the smoke doesn’t get all in her nice car and then throw the butt out the window, presumably so she doesn’t stink up her nice car. Can’t you make it the 15-20 minutes to where you’re going without smoking if you don’t want to stink up your car? This is what I did when I smoked; just didn’t smoke in the car. Duh. Chew some nicorette or something.
When I was young, I threw many a butt out of the window, burning and all. Now that I live in a home where my front yard is not only everyone’s ashtray but their trash can, too, I am so ashamed. I just never even thought about it when I was that inconsiderate teenager. So I think a lot of these butt-throwers just don’t think about it either. They just can’t make the connection between their one little butt and the thousands that add up on the roadside.
So what can we do about it, because it is a real problem? I’ve thought and thought and never come up with a good suggestion. I’ve thought about a sign in my yard (which would probably cause three times as much litter to be deposited), letters to the editor (yeah right, that’ll work), and personal one-on-one (honking and screaming “Litterer! Why don’t you use your ashtray?”). None of these will work. I really really want to catch someone throwing out a butt, follow them home, and dump about 100 butts in their yard. I may just do this someday.
I was walking to the subway from my office about two weeks ago and I saw one of the people who get paid to sweep up the sidewalks pushing his garbage can back to their “base station.” He was just about finished with the cigarette he had. Right before I passed him he took one final drag and, in the most stunning demonstration of irony, threw the butt on the ground. The only thing I could do was start laughing, and he looked at me like I was insane. This is a person who:
All day sweeps up cigarettes other people have dropped on the ground.
Is pushing a garbage can right in front of him. It actually took more effort and thought to throw the butt so it wouldn’t land in the garbage can.
Oh well.
Hey you!, what thread are you recapping from? It seems to be from an oddly parallel universe, where everything is slightly similar to posts I’ve read in this thread, but really are entirely different.
~Munch (non-smoker)
My mom is the grossest smoker going. She seems to think that you can put butts anywhere you want. I remember a few things from my childhood that blow my mind: stomping them out on the supermarket floor and putting them out on her plate at dinner. That would not be possible now, thank goodness. Now that we are adults with our own homes, my sister and I delight in limiting where she can put the butts (you know they aren’t allowed in our homes) and this started when my sister caught her elderly mother-in-law picking mom’s butts off her lawn on her hands and knees. They aren’t allowed on our lawns, in our garbage or anywhere else on our property. When she visits and takes one of her long smoking walks she seems to resort to storm drains.
From the California criminal code:
From what I remember, Paul Buzzo, in the late 50s, was riding his bike and someone threw a lit smoke out a car window and he got blinded by it somehow.
I know about this law because a friend of mine got ticketed for it—about a $200 fine for the first offense.
So those of you with video cameras—how about making citizen arrests? I’ll bet other states have similar laws.
Okay Munch, I should have said “paraphrase” rather than “recap.” :rolleyes: Pardon my semantics. Sources cited below.
acconav said: I also throw 'em out my window when I’m driving, but only when my ashtray is really full (I’m paranoid that I won’t put the cig out completely and the other cig butts will catch on fire).
I said: Some individuals’ ashtray is already too full. This one is pretty direct.
acconav said: I don’t feel too bad about this though, since the few cigs that get thrown out my window end up in the bed of my truck.
**I said: Some feel that butts could concievably fly into the bed of his truck instead on the roadside or onto a following car. ** Additional testimony was supplied to the fact that cigarettes land in the bed of a truck. On the flip side, personal experience has shown that (at least for non-trucks) cigarettes fly onto following cars and are ubiquitous on the sides of the roads.
Tedster said: Maybe cigarette companies could make a bio-degradeable butt… that would help a lot…
**I said: Some believe it is the tobacco company’s responsibility to manufacture a product that will allow him to litter without repercussions. ** The point boils down to responsibility. There is bad behavior at work and the manufacturer is pointed at that they are culpable. Goes along the same logic as “Guns don’t kill…people kill.”
SHAKES said: If I’m in a public parking lot I have no problem throwing my butts out on the ground. WHY? becuase they employ people to clean that stuff up. Hey I’m just helping to keep people employed. It stimulates the economy.
**I said: One fella does it NOT out of laziness or irresponsibility, but because he is trying to stimulate the economy. (Kudos to you sir!) ** This guy has just got to be kidding.
wolfman said: Well I used to break off the tabacco part and keep the filters in my pocket until I could throw them in a trash can. Then a couple coworkers decided that because of the butts in my office trashcan I must be smoking in my office and tried to get me fired. I took the ‘screw you I’ll throw them on the ground from now on’ attitude.
**I said: Some exact symbolic revenge at those cretins who tried to get them fired. ** Also pretty direct.
Bullwinkle said: Modern smokers don’t do anything different than Humphrey Bogart and Co. did in those old movies that made it cool to smoke in the first place…we need to develop a cool way to dispose of a modern cigarette butt. What would Bogey do?
** I said: Some people have discovered that flicking cigarettes says “I’m cool” to everyone who may or not be watching. ** Now I believe that this guy’s posting was largely tounge-in-cheek, he was the only one to touch on the “cool” factor, which I believe accounts for a lot. Smoking, in and of itself is not “cool,” charisma is the foundation of “cool” everything else are just accessories.
acconav said: Ok, I admit it… I throw cigarette butts on the ground. I try to be decent about it; if there aren’t any (or many) other butts on the ground…
** I said: And some do it because other sensible people (like the ones mentioned above) do it. ** Focuses on the situation of “if other people are doing it too, why shouldn’t I?”
**I also said: Some feel slighted that somebody else didn’t put an ashtry or garbage can where they decided to smoke. ** I concede that this is a stretch. This was only alluded to in Bullwinkle’s and Tsubaki’s post, but points to a situation that smokers find themselves in: I’m done smoking, I’d like to dispose of my trash properly, but oh sh*t… I can’t find an ashtray."
This could be discussed concerning any sort of littering, and appears to be a simple anti-smoking rant in disguise.
I completely agree. Complain about gum sticking to your shoes and the “assholes” who just spit it out on the street when there’s a garbage can a foot away. Or how about all kinds of equally non-biodegradable garbage that you see all over the place on the ground? Why single out smoking?
This is just anal, that’s all.
You’re right, it is against littering. However, the reason I singled out smoking is becuase it is the type of littering I have been encountering the worst.
Seriously, whether you are a smoker or not, if you saw the cigarette butts on the 4th floor landing where I live, you would appreciate why I asked the question in the first place.
Throwing a cigarette out the window of a car where I live will get you a $500 fine: the risk of fire is simply too high.
I only throw butts on the street/ground where there is no ashtray within a reasonable distance–and no, I haven’t seen a portable ashtray in years.
I do think this is an anti-smoking rant more than anything; I see far more food containers (cups, wrappers, etc.) on the streets than I do cigarette butts.
Out of idle curiosity…if you’re going to bring your own smokes somewhere, why don’t you also bring your own ashtray?
And, yes, I also wonder about those who leave other litter around. If they’re going to bring their own drinks, snacks, etc. somewhere, why don’t they also bring their trashbags to pack it out?
Where I live, and remember, I live on a busy street and people throw all manner of garbage out the window into my yard, so I have first-hand knowledge, cigarette butts far outweigh the other trash in sheer numbers. In volume I suppose other trash might be more, so it looks like there’s more garbage than butts, but I assure you there are more butts. Look out your window when you’re at the light on the exit off the Interstate and count butts v. trash and I think you’ll agree.
I don’t think this is an anti-smoking rant; I think it’s a rant just about those smokers who litter their butts. The OP (I assume) and I don’t have a problem with people who smoke in general. It only addresses those who litter the butts when they’re through. In my experience, people who would never throw a Burger King bag out the window see no problem at all throwing a butt out the window (my husband, for one, although I may be breaking him of that particular habit). For some reason, some otherwise reasonable people do not see throwing a butt on the ground as littering. I think this is what the OP was addressing. Why don’t they see throwing a butt as being as bad as tossing a plastic cup on the ground?
I was actually wondering about this yesterday. My dh and I went to pick up his paycheck from the office and we were standing in the parking lot chatting with some friends (I used to work there, also). The place we were standing is the designated smoking area for the company. There are chairs and parking cones marking it off so that no one parks in their space. There is also a three foot tall ashtry/trashcan right in the middle of everything. And for about a foot in every direction around this ashtray, there are cigarette butts on the ground.
This has been an ongoing battle between the employees and the managing company from whom our employers rent space. This area is on the fifth floor of the garage, and overlooks the driveway where cars and pedestrians enter the premesis. And the smokers I work with used to throw their butts over the side without even looking to see if there were cars or people below. They also used to drop their butts from a walkway that leads to the garage and passes right over an outdoor dining area. The only reason is stopped is a company policy that anyone caught throwing butts anywhere over the edge would be fired on the spot.
Still, no one bothers to throw their butts into the provided ashtray. Even my own husband, a supervisor for pete’s sake!
Unfortunately, he’s probably not. This is the same thing that my husband claims. He litters all kinds of crap with absolutely no remorse, and has even gone so far as to offer to diagram the economic ramifications of not littering. I’ve also had plenty of friends who won’t even take their trash from the movie theatre or clear their table at McDonald’s for the same reason.
Oh, and how hard would it be to carry a “portable ashtray”? About as hard as buying a tin of Altoids, eating (or giving away) the mints, and keeping the tin in your pocket or purse. Gee, what a pain in the butt.
BTW, I don’t smoke, but I don’t throw any trash on the ground, ever. Anytime I don’t have access to a trashcan, I put the trash in my pocket or purse. I’ve even been known to stop and pick up other people’s trash in parks. This drives my husband mad, which is fine by me. If he doesn’t want to see his wife reduced to picking up trash in the park, he can damn well stop littering.
If you don’t like my Altoids idea, there are other options:
Want free disposable ashtrays? (Order enough to pass them out to friends and convenience stores!)
http://www.cigarettelitter.org/index.asp?pagename=FreeAshtrays
How about a practical odor free ashtray that holds up to 20 butts?
http://www.swisstray.com/
Prefer a hip looking ashtray on a chain?
http://www.kopes.com/gadgets/general/portable-ashtray.htm
And for the refined a courteous gentleman, a portable ashtray from Dalvey Accessories for men.
http://www.dalvey.com/content1n4.html
Here in Calgary, the climate is rather… dry. There are large stretches of undeveloped, natural park land.
Each and every summer there are huge fires in these park areas that threaten people’s homes, injure people, kill wild life, destroy property, etc, etc. I’ve seen people outside with their garden hoses trying to prevent a brush fire from reaching their home.
96 time out of 100 the cause of these fires is determined to be some asshat throwing their still-lit cigarette butt out the car window.
If you wanna smoke, go right ahead. Just try to keep the garbage/combustibles to yourself, ummmm, K?
Hey you! is right to target butts. Butts are colonizing litter. Once they’ve established a beachhead, other forms of litter follow. One of the reasons that Disney created Disneyland was that he hated the litter at amusement parks. So he studied the process before opening his park. Seems no one wants to be the first one to litter a nice clean place. Except for smokers. Smokers tend to drop butts like they breathe. And when a few butts are on the ground, that’s enough litter to break down other folk’s reluctance and the stuff starts piling up. That’s why there are so many guys with brooms and dustpans patroling the magic kingdom. Keep the butts off the ground and the litter problem is smaller.
(Disney has also studied the subjective experience of time while waiting in line and anaerobic digestion of trash, among other things.)