Cigarette butts big part of litter problem

Our View

BY St. Tammany News
Published on Monday, September 22, 2008 9:59 AM CDT

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Cigarette butts are litter, too. That’s the message the Mandeville and Slidell Clean City teams have been trying to get across to St. Tammany Parish residents, and we whole-heartedly agree.

The programs for these two organizations have been ongoing for a while, but cigarette butts are still everywhere.

For some reason, folks who would never consider throwing a paper cup or food wrapper out of a car, think nothing of tossing a cigarette butt out, or worse yet, dumping their ash trays out on the roadside. What they do not understand is that it takes more than 25 years for a cigarette butt to decompose in natural surroundings.

And even worse, once the outer layers of the butt are permeated by water or tearing, the filters inside expand and the mess gets bigger.

We implore cigarette smokers to recognize this nuisance and stop littering immediately. And we ask all citizens to help by reporting violations to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality on its hotline, 1-888-LIT-R-BUG.

Provide them with the license plate of the offender, the location, date and time of day the incident occurred, and DEQ will send them a letter stating it is aware of the violation and strongly discourage future abuse.

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Comments

4 comment(s)

Carol Sparkle wrote on Sep 29, 2008 1:25 PM:

" I deplore seeing people standing around smoking and talking, then flicking thier cigarett butts on the ground, I strongly believe it is an indication of poor up brining, and a disrespectful to us who care.

Come on people, get some class! "

CFord wrote on Sep 29, 2008 10:53 AM:

" The amount of cigarette butts on our streets is disgusting and I will most definitely be reporting offenders when I see them. Although the people that toss the butts probably will just toss the letter, too. "

Arthur Sedille wrote on Sep 27, 2008 11:21 AM:

" I agree this is a problem that is out of hand. I am a smoker, I save all my butts in a paper coffee cup (with water in it)then dispose of in trash can at end of day. It is not difficult to be an effective steward of our planet. In some ways butts are worse than litter, they are gross. How about make the offenders sweep the entire intersection with a broom? "

zzone wrote on Sep 22, 2008 8:05 PM:

" I believe that any and all violations of littering on city or state highway fibes should be used to buy street sweepers to clean and maintain our roads. "

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