Cigarette butts: a bigger problem than you think
Two journalists from La Presse did a detailed look at the scope of cigarette butt trash around downtown, and it’s ugly. It doesn’t seem to matter whether there are disposal methods provided, smokers still throw them on the ground. With some figures.
PO 11:11 on 2019-07-20 Permalink
With the law that went into effect a few summers ago, a huge number of establishments removed their ashtrays from near their doors/entryways, presumably because the “distance from the door” rule suggested they wouldn’t need them anymore or would prevent compliance. Over the course of that summer the number of places to throw away a butt decreased dramatically, by my observation. A few places downtown, there was nowhere to throw away a butt within an entire block. That had to have played a role.
Kate 11:18 on 2019-07-20 Permalink
You may be right, PO. I suspect part of it might be that nobody wanted the filthy job of emptying them, either.
Have you ever watched smokers disposing of their cigarettes? There’s a characteristic gesture of disgust as they fling it on the ground. They know smoking is nasty, and once they’ve had their hit they just want to get rid of it. Too bad that makes it everyone else’s problem.
Faiz Imam 13:21 on 2019-07-20 Permalink
One more reason I don’t mind weed smokers. There is no waste.
JP 23:54 on 2019-07-20 Permalink
Well, weed stinks pretty bad. I don’t disagree with the right to smoke it, but I was at Westmount Park the other night to watch Shakespeare in the Park, and someone nearby was definitely smoking it. It’s definitely not pleasant, but I guess there isn’t anything you can do.
Ian 16:43 on 2019-07-21 Permalink
There’s no smoking of any kind allowed in Westmount Park, it’s been that way for years.
In any case, there are certainly far fewer smokers now than ever in Montreal. A couple of garbage bags every day sounds like a lot but consider the sheer volume of trash from the malls every single day in non-biodegradable garbage, dumpster after dumpster full. Not so say that cigarette butts aren’t unpleasant, but that we have bigger fish to fry and clutching your pearls over 2 garbage bags is a bit absurd.
Alex 09:42 on 2019-07-22 Permalink
That’s 2 garbage bags of stuff that isn’t easily seen, that can be easily carried around by water and wind into places it shouldn’t be like drains and the soil. Nicotine is poisonous to plants, wildlife and people so its kind of a problem when you think about it, its not really just about volume, more the type of garbage.
Ian 10:17 on 2019-07-22 Permalink
Oh, an invisible poison that gets everywhere? Like road tar leaching, or runoff from cement? The entire city is contaminated by virtue of its being a city. Let’s not pretend an end to cigarette butts is going to make it safe to drink out of puddles.
meezly 10:24 on 2019-07-22 Permalink
Society now expects dog owners to pick up after their dogs yet smokers can still leave their butts all over public spaces. Why is this still tolerated? People now carry their on reusable grocery bags, mugs and bottles, how hard is it for a smoker to carry portable, resealable ash trays? Toxic pollution aside, cigarette butts are a disgusting reminder of how lazy and entitled people can be.
Alex 11:53 on 2019-07-22 Permalink
@ian, All of those things are bad, but I see no problem trying to fix the things that can be fixed.
Ian Rogers 11:42 on 2019-07-23 Permalink
Yes, this is happening. It’s called almost nobody smokes anymore. I was pretty much the last of my dive bar friends to still smoke and even I quit over a year ago.
My complaint is the hand-wringing over what, in an urban setting like ours, is effectively a minor nuisance. Frankly I suspect that gum on the sidewalks is a bigger issue to the city.
This is just an easy alarm, the cheapest and laziest form of investigative journalism possible.