For too long now, cigarettes have been littering our streets. Recently, East Northamptonshire Council has launched a campaign highlighting the penalty incurred for littering, and asking every single smoker around the county to ‘Bin your Butt’, in order to reduce the amount of cigarette butts on our streets. This will make the streets far more presentable and far more pleasant for the public.

The campaign includes installing cigarette bins across the whole district. Most of the bins will be situated where smokers usually tend to gather. This mainly includes bus stations and bus stops, pubs and clubs.

Several members from the environmental team at East Northamptonshire Council have been out and about on the streets handing out free pouches for cigarette butts. They are also informing the public about the punishment for dropping any sorts of litter. Dropping a cigarette butt on the street or from a car window can result in a fixed penalty notice of £75. In some cases, people may be called to appear in front of a court for dropping cigarette butts.

Cherry French, Waste Management Officer, said, “Despite all of the publicity regarding smoking related litter, it seems the message has not got across to everyone so this is one way of making sure that people are aware. Following the campaign, with the help of the Police, Fixed Penalty Notices will be issued to those who continue to drop their cigarette butts. This will hopefully serve as a deterrent to others. People will not have the excuse that they did not know cigarette butts were litter or that there are no bins provided for their disposal.”