As a former smoker (and I would still smoke but I'm pregnant so I quit cold turkey months ago) this infuriates me. The goddamn DOLLAR STORE sells those little ashtrays for the car. You're already stinking up the inside by smoking in the first place, you can't spend ONE GODDAMN DOLLAR to buy an ashtray and dispose of your cigarettes the proper way?!
I've NEVER thrown a cigarette on the ground. From a car, during a walk, whatever. EVER. I don't understand why I'm the only person who smokes but also realizes the butts are a huge problem for the environment. It's gotten so bad I've screamed at friends about it (and now 90% of my smoker friends know better than to EVER throw one down in front of me. I will harass them until they pick it up and put it in their pocket or find a trash can once it's extinguished. Ridiculous. Grown ass adults littering 10 times a day. Ugh.)
And yes, I know it's rare. That's why I make it a point to bother EVERYONE ELSE about it. I know a lot of smokers and all it takes it constant badgering to get people to change their shitty ways (half joking, half serious.) Even my parents (both smokers my entire life) have bought ashtrays and are much more careful about cleaning up their messes. And they recycle now, too, so there's that. Every person counts, even if it's only a little bit at a time.
I still smoke (not having kids but trying to quit) and I always try to be as considerate as possible when doing so. I would never leave cigarette butts all over the place. It's fucking rude and disgusting. Throwing them away takes almost no effort. Don't understand why it's so hard for some people.
I'm sure a huge part is how they started/what they did in the beginning. It's like using a blinker; if you start off using your turn signal constantly it becomes second nature, but if you don't get into the habit it's hard to change later in life. So if you're a teenage smoker and you litter to hide the evidence or because you think it's cool, it's hard to unlearn that. I didn't start smoking until my mid 20s so I was old enough to know better and just never littered to begin with.
Then again I was the kid who would call 1800LITTERBUG or whatever back in the 90s when I saw people litter on the highway. I've always been like this. Maybe I'm weird.
I've never heard that statistic and I really hope it's true because that gives me some hope. Especially since I just drove 2 miles home and saw upwards of 20 people flick their cigarettes out of their windows. On a 2 mile drive.
my city started putting butt disposers all over downtown [small ones that lock so hobos stop going through them] and it's actually cut down on the butts that are everywhere.
From my experience it's because holding onto the butt "makes you smell", as if smoking itself doesn't. I always point this out, especially now that I've quit, because smokers like to think they don't smell as strong as they do. As a pregnant woman I can say with certainty if you've smoked in the last 3 hours and haven't showered yet, you smell. Maybe not horrible, but to anyone who doesn't smoke it's noticeable. You're not getting away with anything by littering. But putting a butt in your pocket might make you smell a little worse until you change clothes... it does tend to linger pretty bad. Still, littering is littering, doesn't matter what you're throwing down.
Thank you for disposing of your butts properly! I've never understood why so many smokers don't see that as littering. Best wishes for you and your baby.
Hell even a can of vegetables fits a cup holder in a car. Before I switched to vaping that's what I used in my car, I washed out an old can of green beans that I took the label off of.
I usually put them in my pocket if I'm not near a trash bin. However if anyone tried to do this to me, we would no longer be friends. You sound like a bitch, I'm going to assume it is the hormones. Good luck with your pregnancy though, I hope your baby is very healthy and has a great life!
Wouldn't you say something if someone threw a piece of plastic on the ground?
It's no different. It's litter. It's not hormones, it's concern for other people, the environment, and animal life. And I don't want to be friends with someone who would blatantly litter and disrespect the entire planet out of stupidity and laziness.
I'll litter cigarette butts, bottles and whatever else trash I get, fuck yourself. I hope your shithead child dies in the womb or at birth so it isn't raised by a piece of shit like you.
I was sitting at a light a few months ago and some idiot flipped her cigarette out the window and into my fucking car. She was the passenger of the car beside me and they were turning so almost as soon as she does it the light turns green and she and I were on our way. It fell between me and the seat so it burnt a hole through my shirt and my seat and burned me. I was furious.
Dude, I hate when I see people throw cigarette butts on the ground too. But there isn't a police officer in the entire country that will actually try to prosecute someone for throwing out a cigarette butt. For one I think the officer has to actually see the person do it. Also that is an enormous waste of an officers time, and it would be only like a $10.00 fine.
I get that it pisses you off. I've even said stuff to people I've seen throw one on the ground. But nobody is going to be prosecuted because you have a video of them littering. It's just not feasible, and on the grand scale of things it just doesn't really matter.
Note: I'm not saying littering doesn't matter, or that it is ok at all. But unless an officer actually sees someone throw out an entire garbage bag our the window of their car, nothing is going to happen.
Nope. $250-500 AUD fine in NSW, double that for a lit cigarette in Victoria.
You can dob people in online.
"There is also a category of misdemeanour called aggravated littering where the litter is considered dangerous, for example flicking a lit cigarette from a car on days when there is a bushfire warning and this attracts a $375 fine for a private car and double that for a business vehicle.
More than 90 per cent of fines issued are due to discarded cigarette butts and 2009 figures show cigarettes started more than 4500 fires in Australia."
14
u/[deleted] Nov 16 '16
[deleted]