|
If you are going to smoke,
please put your cigarette butts in the trash—not out the
car window, not in the gutter, not on the lawn, and not in a
stream.
Cigarette filters are made of
cellulose acetate, a plastic that degrades slowly in the environment,
if at all. Filters are designed to trap carcinogenic chemicals
that smokers don’t want in their lungs and bloodstream.
Littered butts are carried by wind and stormwater runoff into
nearby water bodies. The cancer causing agents in the filters
leak into aquatic ecosystems, threatening the quality of the
water and aquatic life. Cigarette filters have been found
in the stomachs of fish and birds who mistake them for food.
According to Keep American Beautiful,
Inc., smokers litter about 4.5 trillion cigarette butts yearly.
The Department of Forestry reports that in 2001, cigarette butts
thrown out of vehicle windows caused 190 fires, resulting in
464 acres of Virginia land being burned.
Littering is illegal. Most people
are unaware of littering fines. Section 33.3-346 of the Code
of Virginia makes littering or dumping trash a Class 1 misdemeanor,
punishable by up to 12 months in jail and/or a fine up to $2,500.
Section 10.1-1143 of the Forestry
Code makes it unlawful to throw “any lighted smoking material”
from a vehicle. This is a Class 2 misdemeanor violation, punishable
by up to 6 months in jail and/or a fine up to $1,000. (With
either the Class 1 or Class 2 offense, community service can
take the place of jail time.)
Penalties are deterrents only
when they are enforced. In 2001, Fairfax County police issued
just 62 summonses for littering. Any cursory look at parking
lots, street gutters, commercial strips, park land, beaches,
and even sidewalks and lawns will show that littering is still
prevalent in our society.
People who litter are showing
their careless disregard for the property and well being of
others and the environment. Keep America Beautiful studies have
shown that one of the reasons litterbugs feel it is okay to
litter is because they believe someone else is paid to clean
it up. That’s true. The Virginia Department of Transportation
spends about $6.5 million a year on litter control on nearly
57,000 miles of interstate, primary and secondary roads. That’s
$6.5 million of taxpayer money that otherwise could have been
spent on highway repair projects.
In addition to what VDOT collects,
Adopt-a-Highway volunteers pick up about 3 million bags worth
of trash annually from 14,000 miles of Virginia’s roads.
The Virginia Council for Litter
Prevention and Recycling will be distributing a new video to
local law enforcement agencies in June encouraging the enforcement
of anti-litter laws. Most of us properly dispose of our
trash because we care about our communities and know that littering
is unacceptable. For those who have yet to get the message,
enforcement might do the trick. For more information about
the video, email
Jenny Hockstein.
Australia adopted strict litter
laws two years ago. Littering lit cigarette butts or tossing
any item from a car is subject to a $200 fine. Stubbed out cigarette
butts left on the ground earn the violator a $60 fine. In the
first nine months under the new laws, 3,131 offenders paid fines
for littering from vehicles—mostly cigarette butts.
Please don’t be a litterbug.
Put your butt where it belongs—in the trash.
|
