Butt Free Australia applaud the massive effort already mounting for Clean Up Australia Day this Sunday (7 March). Another event and likely another reminder that cigarette butts are littered only too often and widely.

Clean Up Australia Day is also an opportunity to acknowledge those champions who work tirelessly year-round in the environments they love, to undo the blight of butt litter.

Alison Heathcote (pictured) has volunteered as a quiet custodian of Terrigal Beach on the central coast of NSW.  As founder of Waste Warriors Worldwide, Alison coordinates regular clean ups in the area and has been providing and emptying cigarette butt litter buckets along the beach for the last few years. Alison and her team will be at the beach on Sunday between 7 - 11am.

Recently Gosford City Council, in coordination with Alison’s efforts, has installed permanent stainless steel butt litter bins. Council has asked her to assess their effectiveness and will support further education campaigns, such as Butt Free City in May, to encourage their ongoing use. Well done Alison!

Blog: 5 March 2010

Recent research commissioned by Butt Free Australia shows that when it comes to cigarette butt littering size really does matter.

The research, undertaken by Millward Brown, showed that smallness is an enabler of butt litter. The smallness of butts means people think of butts as insignificant or less significant than other litter. Most litterers are unaware of the impacts of butt litter and expect butts to disintegrate, wrongly thinking that they are made of paper and cotton wool and break up easily in the soil and on the ground.

The small size means the act of butt-littering is less obvious and that butt littering is easily hidden, hence less social stigma. With comments like ‘you can get away with throwing a butt on the ground, but you couldn’t do that with a soft drink can’ there is a clear need for the attitudes and behaviours of butt litterers to change.

So does size really matter? Well when you think that there is around 7 billion butts littered in Australia each year, it certainly does. The message is simple ‘PLEASE BUTT IT, THEN BIN IT’®.

Want to know more? Check out “Understanding attitudes & behaviour behind cigarette butt littering” in our research section.

Blog: 26 Feb 2010

Litter law enforcement is naturally unpopular, but necessary to encourage behavioural change. In the next few weeks two Victorian local governments are launching enforcement campaigns to reinforce the ‘PLEASE BUTT IT, THEN BIN IT^®’ message.

Ararat Rural City Council's enforcement blitz follows a lack of litterers heeding messages of a recent 'Don't be a Tosser' education campaign. The City of Melbourne's 'Butt it and bin it' blitz is a response to litterers not heeding messages of numerous education campaigns, including Butt FREE City, and also their failure to use one of the 3000 bins installed throughout the city.

Cities large and small are increasingly recognising enforcement as an essential component of any butt litter management strategy. For butt litterers it can be a costly lapse of judgement – in Victoria up to $234!

The City of Melbourne will once again partner with Butt Free Australia in the annual Butt FREE City campaign.

'Don't be a Tosser, bin your butts' (Ararat Advertiser, 12 Jan 2010)

'Butt It and Bin It, smokers warned to dispose of cigarettes responsibly' (City of Melbourne, Media Release, 4 Feb 2010)

Blog: 9 Feb 2010

What's been your experience of butt litter enforcement?

In the lead up to Butt Free City in May, and following a successful campaign at Tamworth, Butt Free Australia is exploring creative concepts to increase the salience of the butt littering issue with the general public. We’re also making a strong push to encourage smokers to take responsibility for correctly disposing of their butts.

Prior to Christmas, we commissioned a couple of concepts which went through vigorous focus group testing throughout January. In developing these concepts, a mixed bunch of YouTube videos on cigarette litter public/community service announcements provided us with some interesting examples.

A recent campaign from Keep Britain Tidy teamed up with a prominent advertising agency to highlight the size of the cigarette butt litter problem. The campaign has produced some mixed reactions, but it’s undeniably a high quality production.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jci7x1JFwmg

Blog: 1 Feb 2010

What’s your take on the ad?

Butt Free Australia is partnering with Tamworth Regional Council at the 2010 Tamworth Country Music Festival this month.

Aligning with the 'Don't Waste Tamworth' campaign, the opening night concert at the local football oval - Friday 15 Jan - was declared a Butt FREE event. Mobile butt bins were clearly highlighted with bright blue flags and a campaign poster reminded festival goers that 'Cigarette butts spoil everyone's Tamworth'.

Council officers handed out Butt Free Australia personal ashtrays and received glowing reports from cleaners at the close of the evening's entertainment, that very little butt litter was found! Butt litter in particular had been a significant issue is past years at this venue.

The mobile butt bins will be placed throughout Tamworth during the remainder of festival, and Council officers will continue to provide ashtrays to those willing to commit to butting it, then binning it for a Butt FREE Tamworth.

Blog: 18 Jan 2010

What's been your experience of butt litter at the festival?