Hello
I am currently working on developing our annual marine and coastal holiday programs here in Broome, WA. The focus this year (and for the in-school programs also) is marine debris. I would like to incorporate a bit of a 'butts out' campaign to combat cigarette butt littering on our local, and beautiful, Cable Beach. Can anyone help me locate a cigarette butt costume that I could borrow (I know there is one out there!!) to use during the program to attract attention? I would also like to source a supply of personal ashtrays to distribute (for free or minimal cost if possible).
Many thanks,
Fiona Galloway
Marine and Coastal Reserves Officer
Department of Environment and Conservation
Australia
Cigarette Butt Costume (or similar!)
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Hi Fiona;
Sorry, but I can't help you out with the costume, but I was involved with a butt out program with a local council in Sydney. I'm guessing they will be a little hard to get now, but we used the plastic containers that camera film comes in to be peoples personal ash tray. They were highly successful, and free from local camera shops. I think it was when the NSW government were running the 'don't be a tosser' campaign, as we put a campaign sticker on the containers.
Best of luck with your campaign, and I hate seeing cigarette butts on the beach!
Regards;
Chris Weston
Ku-ring-gai Council
Australia
Hi Fiona,
Re cigarette butt containers: I noticed at the Darwin Festival venue last year there were free cigarette containers for smokers to take away at the bar. They were small black plastic containers with quite a discrete human butt as the lid. Darwin Festival contact is 08 89434200 or [email protected].
Hope this helps,
Robin MacGillivray
robin macgillivray
NT. Government
Australia
Here's an idea for a "butt" costume: We had a trash fashion show at last year's San Juan County Fair (San Juan Islands,Washington, U.S.)and the 2nd place winner wore bike shorts with hundreds of cig butts glued to them (butt w/ butts). She collected them outside one of our local bars over a few weekends...WOW...did she stink!
Helen V
Helen Venada
San Juan County Public Works
United States
Thanks Helen!
That's quite the twist. But good idea as a marine debris/trash costume in general might be an option as well.
Still looking for that butt costume though if possible!!
Fiona Galloway
Marine and Coastal Reserves Officer
Department of Environment and Conservation
Australia
Hi there:
Did you try a costume design company or theatre props group?
A couple of websites to view:
Out of Columbus, Ohio
Havent seen a cigarette, however, the site shows a newspaper one that you can envision being redeveloped into a cigarette.
http://www.cospec.com/custom_design.html
Out of Texas
http://www.animalmascots.com/01-F0094/Cigarette-Foam-Costume-Mascot.html
Love the idea of reducing cigarette butt litter!
Roslyne Buchanan
Communications Strategist
The City of Calgary
Canada
calgary.ca
Fiona, your local chapter of Surfrider Foundation might have a cigarette butt costume. They say that cigarette butts are the most littered item in the world, and that butts account for one in every five items collected during beach clean ups. "Many smokers incorrectly believe that cigarette filters are made of biodegradable cotton. In fact, cigarette filters are made of the plastic 'cellulose acetate,' and can take 15 years to decompose. These butts are not only unsightly but can be hazardous to birds and wildlife that mistake them for food," according to the December 2008 Surfrider Foundation newsletter, Making Waves.
You can order a cigarette costume at: http://www.cigarettecostume.com/
This website offers eco-friendly personal "ashtrays": http://www.buttsandgum.com/acatalog/
Hope this helps,
Julie Johnston
GreenHeart Education
http://www.greenhearted.org
Julie Johnston
Hi Fiona,
NevRwaste, in North East Victoria, Australia, ran a 'Don't be a tosser, butt it and bin it in the North East' education campaign, part of which was the use of a giant cigarette butt costume walking the streets.
Details about the campaign, including photo of the big butt, and contacts at NevRwaste can be found at:
http://www.nevrwaste.vic.gov.au/news/don-t-be-a-tosser-in-the-north-east
Hope this helps
Cameron Alexander
Environment Officer
Alpine Shire Council
Australia
Fiona:
I know you were looking for a cigarette costume to borrow but an American Company, CiggyButz.com sells them for $599US. We have had one for several years. It is a frequently-requested prop we've loaned it out to schools for various events and has held up well. The only caveat I have is that larger-than-life costumes are attractive to young children; they're like big puppets. I've seen youngsters hug Ciggy Buttz, and want their picture taken with him. We've had to be careful not to glamorize the character. Instead, we suggest ways to use it so the message that smoking isn't cool is clear. Ideas: have him stand in a kiddie pool full of sand, to look like a big ashtray. Once time, we wrapped chains around him and put handcuffs on him, to make the point that smoking "chains" one to an addiction, or one is a slave to the addiction.
Theresa Cross
MS RD CD
Clark County Public Health
United States
Hi Fiona,
When I was in Portugal last year, one of the beaches I visited had a dispenser for beach ashtrays. They were cone shaped, so that you could stick them in the sand. I have no idea of the cost, probably more than you were budgeting for, considering the only suppliers I could find were international. They are a great idea though, here are the links:
http://richforth.manufacturer.globalsources.com/si/6008816653888/pdtl/Ashtray/1011225228/Beach-Ashtray.htm
http://www.ecobyn.com/eng/
The film cannisters are also good, and camera shops are generally happy to give them away, but as was already mentioned, there is probably not a big supply anymore.
Good luck with it all!
Rose Childe
Regional Environment Education Officer
Rural City of Wangaratta
Australia
Hi Fiona,
Noosa Shire Council took an innovative approach at their festivals by supporting a Butt Hunters volunteer group. They all wore second hand 70s safari suits and hunted dropped butts. They looked great. I heard that they received a good response from smokers when they talked about the issue of littered butts and distributed personal butt collectors. This one on one talking is something a mascot cant do.
Regarding the give away ashtrays. My personal opinion is that public funds shouldnt be used to purchase merchandise that supports smokers. That said, I do understand there is a greater problem with butts on beaches. Perhaps some research needs to be done of why people litter cigarette butts. Do they not have access to a container? Perhaps some signs in the beach carparks reminding smokers to bring something to take butts away in would be useful. Or are they just ignorant to environmental issues?
In 2006 in Cape Town, South Africa I saw a beach program where people could borrow an ashtray. A stack of ashtrays were placed near a bin and smokers borrowed one for the day and then returned to empty it and place it back for others. I have no idea if the trays went missing, but Im guessing people would rather leave the trays at the beach then take them back to the car. Unless of course they looked like souvenirs.
Good luck. I appreciate your work for the betterment of Australian beaches.
Candice
You can find a great picture of the Butt Hunters here: plus more resources from Qld Litter.
Candice Laidlaw Thompson
Sustainability Awareness Projects Officer
Toowoomba Regional Council
Australia
Hi all,
For those of you who are running cigarette litter campaigns on beaches this year, please take a look at an innovative and eco-friendly beach ashtray that we have just developed: http://boodi.co.uk/beach-ashtray.html
If anyone would like samples, please email me. I would be happy to give CBSM members a discount on any of our products.
Tony Jones
United Kingdom
http://www.boodi.co.uk/
Exactly where does one dispose of those cigarette butts collected from our beaches ( even if in a postcard or portable ash tray)? Don't they just end up in a landfill?
Is there a more sustainable way to dispose of cigarette butts we collect on the beaches during our shoreline clean-up?
Mary Lindsay
Managing Director
Living Oceans Society
Canada
People who use our beach ashtrays and portable ashtrays empty the cigarette butts responsibly into a bin. From there, I presume they are taken to landfill with the other contents of the bin.
Separating litter at the point of disposal would help. Then the items that are recyclable can be recycled. The cigarette butts can then be collected and processed; there are companies that claim to be able to recycle cigarette butts in order to create building insulation and other industrial materials.
Recycle and reuse is desirable, but I don't know if there are any adverse affects of the cleansing process that these companies employ - all those toxins in the cigarette butt need to be removed, but what happens to those toxins? If the process includes washing the cigarette butts, the toxins may exit the process as waste water, then that wouldn't be ecologically sound.
A search for "recycle cigarette butts" will provide some food for thought!
Tony Jones
United Kingdom
https://www.terracycle.com/en-AU/ has a cigarette butt recycling program - they are an international company, so see if you can access it.
Our town has recently adopted a smoking ban on public beaches.
fred stepanis, jr.
Conservation Assistant
Town of Barnstable
United States
http://www.town.barnstable.ma.us/Conservation/