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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Litterbutts
A report this year by the Propel Centre for Health Impacts at the University of Waterloo says there are about 200,000 cigarette smokers in Manitoba and that on average they smoke 15 cigarettes a day.
Given that Winnipeg represents 60 per cent of Manitoba's population, that means every day, three million cigarette butts (or 1.1 billion a year -- 200,000 x 15 x 365) are created and in need of disposal. To be sure, most smokers deposit their butts in ashtrays that are dumped in the garbage. But a lot of them don't, which is why Take Pride Winnipeg has launched a campaign to guilt smokers into picking up after themselves.
While a single cigarette butt is nothing much, in their millions they accumulate into a considerable litter problem. Take Pride calculates that while one driver here and one stroller there flicking a butt out the window or into a gutter might see it as no big deal, the fact is that together, cigarette butts from tens of thousands of smokers account for 28 per cent of litter on Winnipeg streets.
While some jurisdictions, such as the state of Washington, have imposed hefty fines for littering butts, Take Pride is correctly using an education campaign, even offering free-of-charge pocket ashtrays while they last. Smokers who increasingly feel they are treated as pariahs don't need the added label of litterbutt. Take pride; pick it up.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 11, 2012 A14
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