No butts, quit your stompie littering - campaign targets smokers in CPT

Clarence Ford speaks to Kally Benito, Manager of the CCID’s Urban Management Department.

The picture below in the Cape Town CBD is the latest attempt by the Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID) to get smokers to bin their butts.

The striking 3D drawing in Thibault Square shows the devastating environmental damage brought on by cigarette-butt litter.

The message to smokers is that throwing your stompie on the street isn't only antisocial, but also has a negative impact on marine life when it gets washed into the ocean.

We want smokers to dispose of their cigarette butts in a responsible manner, says Kally Benito, Manager of CCID’s Urban Management Department.

"The CCID has got cigarette butt bins, where one can dispose their butts. We've got about 310 of these bins every 50 metres on street corners."

Kally Benito, Manager  - CCID’s Urban Management Department

In addition to littering the streets, cigarette butts end up in the ocean where marine animals risk ingesting them, which can prove fatal.

"Just discarding them on the pavement, they go into our storm water drains and they go out to our oceans and affects all our marine life."

Kally Benito, Manager  - CCID’s Urban Management Department

The CCID collects over 2 000 kg in ciggie butts every year in the Cape Town CBD.

Marine conservationists predict that by 2037 there will be more ciggie butts in the ocean than snoek, says Benito.

The slogan for this latest campaign is “The Small Butt Big Problem”.