Safe and Clean Cigarette Disposal Just Got Easier

When you think about litter what is it you think about? Paper? Plastic bottles? Cans? These are a problem but there is one item that accounts for around 50% of all litter worldwide – cigarette butts!*

That’s why Franklin District Council has decided to tackle the problem of cigarette butts head on and install cigarette disposal units at key locations in Tuakau and Pukekohe (Waiuku already has these).

“At the moment cigarette butts end up in the town gardens, stormwater drains or littering the footpaths. So Council has decided to take this step and provide the disposal units. Hopefully the community will embrace and use them,” says Franklin District Council’s Solid Waste Manager, Nigel Birse.

Ciragette butts are toxic litter. They can leach chemicals such as lead and arsenic into our coasts and rivers, have been found in the stomachs of fish, whales and birds and have even been known to be picked up and digested by young children.*

Waiuku already has three cigarette disposal units. Council is installing three in Tuakau and 10 in Pukekohe. The units are in selected locations where either a problem with cigarettes has been noticed or where there is a lot of pedestrian activity. If the disposal units prove a success Council will investigate adding more.