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Belfast businesses are being urged to play an active role in helping to tackle cigarette litter on our streets - a problem which has more than doubled since the introduction of the smoking ban last year.
While littering behaviour generally has improved since Belfast City Council introduced its `Don`t drop it, stop it!` anti-litter campaign four years ago, smokers are still guilty of dropping cigarette butts on our streets.
In a fresh bid to stub out the problem, the council has launched its `No Smoke Without Litter` information pack for businesses, restaurants, pubs and clubs to encourage them to clean up their act and help reduce the unsightly cigarette butts, matches and cigarette packets which litter 75 per cent of the city`s streets.
Councillor Cathal Mullaghan, chairman of the council`s Health and Environmental Services Committee, said:
"We anticipated an increase in the amount of cigarette litter when Belfast went smoke-free in April 2007, but we need to get the message across that keeping our streets clean isn`t the sole responsibility of the city council.
"Businesses, and indeed individuals, have a civic duty to dispose of all litter properly and saying that it`s `just a wee tiny cigarette butt` you`re throwing onto the ground isn`t an excuse. It`s littering and it`s an offence which can cost you £50."
A survey carried out by the environmental charity Tidy Northern Ireland one month after the smoke-free legislation was introduced showed that cigarette-related litter outside pubs, restaurants and public buildings had risen by 17 per cent. Six months after the ban, that figure had shot up to 33 per cent.
Councillor Mullaghan added:
"Not only is this litter unsightly it also poses a serious fire risk and can even contaminate water supplies as cigarette butts are relatively small and difficult to clean up.
"We currently spend more than £11 million every year keeping the streets of Belfast clean. Every week, council staff clean almost 1,000 km of streets - that`s greater than the distance between Belfast and Paris, so we are doing our best. But today we`re asking the business community for their assistance."
A number of ways have been identified for businesses to help tackle the problem of cigarette litter outside their premises including installing appropriate cigarette disposal facilities and promoting the use of pocket ashtrays among staff and patrons.
Encouraging a litter-conscious attitude as part of the workplace ethos and displaying anti-litter posters (available from the council) are also ways which businesses can make a difference.
For more information, visit the council website www.belfastcity.gov.uk/smokefree |
