The Butt Littering Trust has launched Australia’s most comprehensive resource for reducing butt littering, in the form of a web based toolbox.
The free resource – ‘Butt Free Solutions Toolbox’ – is designed for use by government, business and community groups intent on reducing butt litter from entering our environment.
“With the introduction of smoking bans in pubs, clubs and cafes, this is a timely resource as more smokers will head outdoors to smoke and dispose of their butts,” said Chair of the Trust, Ian Coles.
It is estimated that smokers recklessly discard 7.2 billion butts each year, with many butts entering our natural waterways and habitats. However, the Butt Littering Trust believes that many smokers will positively adapt their behaviour once they are aware of the environmental impact of butt littering.
The toolbox calls on the knowledge and experience from over 60 Butt Littering Trust projects that have successfully reduced butt littering by over 26 per cent in selected localities across Australia.
“The step by step toolbox covers the design, planning and management, as well as the implementation and evaluation of butt littering prevention campaigns aimed at encouraging smokers to ‘please butt it, then bin it’,” Ian Coles said. “The key lesson we have learnt is that to get a positive result, there needs to be a three pronged attack to the butt problem.
“First, we need to educate smokers that butts are litter and impact the environment; secondly, we need the provision of permanent butt bins in the street; and, thirdly, we need to enforce litter laws with warnings or fines.
“The toolbox also provides guidance to stop butt littering along highways, as well as at venues, events, transport hubs, tourist areas and sidewalk cafes.”
The toolbox is available at www.buttlitteringtrust.org
The Butt Littering Trust is the only Australian organisation devoted to stopping butt littering. Currently, the trust’s principal source of funding is British American Tobacco. The trust believes that the industry should contribute to the cost of curbing butt littering and has safeguards in place that secure its independence, accountability and transparency.
For further information on the trust or toolbox visit www.buttlitteringtrust.org or call (02) 8907 8222.
