Environmental group urges smokers to put butts in bins

Local members of the Surfrider Foundation have a simple message for smokers: Hold on to your butt.The environmental group’s multi-city campaign urges smokers to dispose of their cigarette butts somewhere other than streets, parks and beaches, proclaiming: Beaches and Streets Are Not Ashtrays.For now, there is a single disposal canister for spent cigarettes on Broad Street next to the Victoria Event Centre, but the plan is to add several more. Six additional units have been ordered and places to install them will be identified, said Lucas Harris, vice-chairman of Surfrider’s South Island Chapter.

“We’re just chomping at the bit to start getting these things out there and spread the word in the community so that people see them in the street.”

Smoker Bernard Boerkamp walked past the Broad Street container Friday and said he welcomes it.“I always look for places like this,” he said, cigarette in hand. “The streets are full of butts.”Another fan is Darren Douglas, part of the Downtown Victoria Business Association Clean Team. Douglas’s regular routine has him picking up all sorts of trash from streets and sidewalks, and he said cigarette butts are always in good supply.Read more here »