Campaign highlights cigarette litter problem

BY ALEXANDRA JOHNSON - THE WELLINGTONIAN

Smokers who throw their cigarette butts onto the street are coming under the scrutiny of Wellington City Council.

Councillor Celia Wade Brown said she and Wellington City Council staff are working on an education campaign to raise awareness of where cigarette butts end up after being tossed into gutters.

Forest and Bird's marine advocate Kirstie Knowles said the butts go straight into the harbour.

"When it rains, the butts get washed down into the gutters, into the drains and down into the sea," she said. People know it's not okay to throw away crisp packets but smokers are doing the same thing throwing away their cigarette butts.

"They are actually a fibrous plastic. They may look soft and fluffy but they stay in the environment for many years."

During Sea Week earlier in the year, six volunteers collected 2000 cigarette butts from Oriental Bay in a couple of hours, "and that's a groomed beach" Ms Knowles said.

"There is not a lot of evidence yet about what happens to the butts in the sea whether they are eaten by marine animals or not for example. But we do know they stay in the marine environment for a long, long time."

She says not only do smokers need to get wise to the fact that cigarette butts are damaging the marine environment, but everyone needs to pull people up on it if they see someone tossing their butt away.

"If I see people doing it they get an ear-bashing."

Wellington City Council planning engineer Nicola Wood says the council have jurisdiction to fine people for throwing their cigarette butt onto the street. She understands the maximum penalty for throwing away a cigarette butt is $100.

"We are going to start rolling out 250 grates over the storm water drains with a motif of a fish on it, to draw people's attention to the fact that whatever goes down there goes straight out to sea." The council have also designed a fish-engraved medallion to go alongside the grates.

Ms Wood said rubbish bins around the city already have cigarette disposal sections on them, but many smokers don't consider cigarette butts to be litter.

In 2000, a Victoria University master's student researched the harbour floor near the overseas passenger terminal stormwater outfall and found 162 cigarette butts per square meter. Ms Wood believes this number will have increased markedly since then, owing to the Smoke-Free Environments Amendment Act which cast smokers outside.

Imperial Tobacco corporate affairs assistant Catherine Rawnsley said consumers had a responsibility to properly dispose of their cigarette butts. She said the company supported local initiates to reduce waste and change people's behaviour with littering.

"Our cigarette butts are biodegradable over a month to three years, depending on environmental conditions and we will continue to evaluate any developments in filter research that leads to a more rapid breakdown," she said. Ms Knowles said she is not aware of any hard evidence as to how long a butt takes to break down, and research varies from 12 months to 12 years, "depending on who is doing the research". Cigarette butts take longer to break down in sea water than in fresh water she said.

Ms Wade-Brown said the council has yet to decide who will fine people for littering.

"But's it's an easy fine to avoid," she said. "You just don't litter." She said she would welcome any cost-efficient suggestions from the public as to how they can make it a successful campaign.