Cigarette butts are made of plastic and do not biodegrade - dropping one on the floor is no different to littering any other item you wouldn't dream of dropping.
Dear John,
Cigarette butts remain our nation's most prevalent litter item. Our latest research shows that a quarter of a million cigarette butts are dropped on UK high streets alone each hour.
Keep Britain Tidy was established more than 60 years ago with a remit to campaign to reduce litter in this country. The consequences of cigarette litter to our environment, to our wellbeing, and to the taxpayer, are far more significant than many realise.
Part of the problem is that smokers have a real blind spot when it comes to their butts. They are three times less likely to see butts as problem litter, compared to non-smokers. This may explain why some smokers, who might otherwise never litter, barely give dropping a cigarette butt a second thought.
Today, on November 13th, we are launching our new fully integrated campaign ‘Cigarette butts are rubbish’, using TV, billboards, radio, social media, digital and podcasts . Our advertising highlights to smokers the paradox in their behaviour; while they wouldn’t litter a crisp packet, they would litter a cigarette butt.
The duck in the advertising embodies the smoker’s social conscience and follows our character until he responsibly disposes of his butt in the bin, revealing the message that ‘you don’t think you’re a litterer, but cigarette butts are rubbish’. The result is a humour-driven campaign, with a sharp insight at its heart that has proven highly effective.
‘Cigarettes are rubbish’ is at the core of a programme of work to tackle cigarette littering, seeking to establish a shift in culture to change smokers’ littering attitudes and behaviours permanently. Our high-profile national behaviour change campaign is underpinned by research and supported through practical behaviour change interventions with a range of businesses and land managers.
Keep Britain Tidy will always continue to advocate for a comprehensive, mandatory extended producer responsibility scheme for cigarette-related litter, one that recognises the true environmental and economic costs of littered cigarette butts.
However, every day millions more cigarette butts are littered, and every day we don’t act millions more will join them - despite the best efforts of local authorities and other land managers to clear them up.
This problem cannot wait – we need to do this now.
If you have any further questions about our campaign, please reach out to us at: [email protected]
Many thanks,
Keep Britain Tidy
