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City offers smokers helpful new way of keeping Nanaimo Clean

NEWS RELEASE - Distributed October 29, 2015 9:36 AM

Summary

The City of Nanaimo are handing out free pocket ashtrays to smokers as a way of minimizing Cigarette litter on City streets and in public areas.

The Pocket ashtrays are used to extinguish cigarettes and store cigarette butts until they are able to be emptied into a litter bin. The packet ashtrays look like a small coin purse, they close tightly, are safe to carry on your person and keep all odours locked inside.

This initiative is part of the Keep Nanaimo Clean campaign which has seen anti-littering messaging spread throughout Nanaimo in bus shelters, on the sides of garbage trucks and over the radio waves. The City does not wish to encourage smoking but is keen to help existing smokers do the right thing with their cigarette litter.

Link to Strategic Plan: The Keep Nanaimo Clean Campaign supports the City's ongoing commitment to environmental sustainability.

Key Points

  • The pocket ash trays are available free from all City facilities including the downtown bylaw office.
  • Residents and businesses foot the bill for cleaning up cigarette litter. This includes additional sidewalk and street sweeping, park maintenance and storm drain cleaning. Business owners bear the expense of cigarette litter cleanup around their properties.
  • Anyone caught littering is liable for a $100 fine.

Quotes

"I think the majority of people want to do the right thing with their litter but there isn't always a suitable option available. These pocket ashtrays are the perfect solution to cigarette litter when you are on the move. I hope all smokers take me up on this offer and come to get their own ashtray. "

Charlotte Davis
Manager of Sanitation and Recycling
City of Nanaimo

Quick Facts

  • Cigarette buts are the most frequently littered item in Nanaimo. Recent statistics indicate that around 65% of all cigarette butts are littered.
  • Cigarette butts are made of a type of plastic that does not degrade. Once dropped they can persist in the environment and cause harmful run off in to rivers and the ocean which has direct and indirect toxic impacts on wild animals.
  • Littering of cigarette butts also creates fire hazards.
  • Unsightly cigarette litter contributes to degeneration of public spaces which eventually contributes to lost tourism and revenue.

Images

Pocket Ashtray
Pocket Ashtray
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Contact:

Charlotte Davis
Manager of Sanitation and recycling
City of Nanaimo
250 756 5307

Print News Release

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