Clean-up sweeps 1,300 cigarette butts off one piece of pavement

Clean-up sweeps 1,300 cigarette butts off one piece of pavement

Plastic Free Jersey activists Geraldine Cardwell and Lisa Armstrong, who were taking part in World Cleanup Day, said that the large number of discarded cigarette ends was unacceptable and could have been avoided if bins or ashtrays were available.

‘Cigarette filters are made from cellulose acetate fibres, which means they can take years to break down,’ Ms Cardwell said. ‘This means that if they are just thrown on the ground, the toxins that are stored in their fibres are released over a long period of time into the environment. This is a serious problem, and one of the worst forms of plastic littering in the world.

‘Obviously, the onus is on smokers to responsibly dispose of their cigarette butts but if the facilities are not on hand for them to do that, it makes the situation a lot harder.

‘And in Jersey, there are simply not enough ashtrays or suitable bins around for Islanders to use.

‘There are plenty of things that the government and parishes could be doing to remedy this, such as installing ballot bins [customisable ashtrays], for example, which are becoming increasingly popular in the UK.’

However, a government spokesperson said that the States do not provide specific facilities for disposing of cigarette butts.

‘Rue des Prés trading estate is swept using the department’s mechanical sweepers,’ he said. ‘However, this doesn’t extend to the collection of cigarette butts from the gravel areas. The department does not provide cigarette-butt disposal points in this or any other area.’

World Cleanup Day, described by its organisers as a ‘global bottom-up civic movement’, originated ten years ago in Estonia and has since been adopted by activist groups across the world. This week, an estimated 13 million people from 144 countries took part.

– Advertisement –
– Advertisement –