Why Should Businesses Have Cigarette Butt Receptacles?

You can't force a smoker to put her cigarette out in an outdoor ashtray, but if there are no outdoor ashtrays around, how would you know if she would? Ashtrays are removed from entrances to restaurants, bars and hotels to emphasize the no-smoking ban, but when a smoker decides to smoke off the property, that contributes to more litter.

While walking through the Rogers Park neighborhood on Thursday, I watched people flick cigarettes outside of their stores and onto the streets. All it takes is one car leaking oil to start a fire. Clearly tossing a cigarette in a trash can is the quickest way to start a fire if there's anything flammable inside. If ashtrays were located outside of the store, would a smoker be more likely to tap the cigarette fire out into the ashtray? Removing the outdoor ashtrays may prove a point about no smoking near the doors, but it also leads smokers away from areas where they can safely discard cigarettes.

So should the cigarette dispensers be near entrance and exit doorways for other people to inhale? No. They should be far enough away to honor the cigarette distance limit. But they should be close enough that a cigarette smoker would be more likely to walk to it. The location depends on how big the gathering area is. It's not a good idea to put the dispenser on a sidewalk or entrance path because other guests would have to constantly walk around smokers. However, an open area where smokers can congregate and safely put out their cigarettes could save the city, the maintenance staff and your taxes some money.

Outdoor ashtrays aren't expensive either. While websites like CigaretteAshtrays.com charge $134 for a cigarette butt receptacle, sites like GlobalIndustrial.com charge $34 to $89.95 for cigarette receptacles. Smokers will smoke regardless, so why not encourage companies to have smoking receptacles nearby to avoid the cleanup later?

Regular outside maintenance may ensure cigarette butts are swept up on a regular basis, but there are some companies who simply can't afford having someone police parking lots and curbs all day long. Imagine going to a hotel where there are cigarette butts on the ground instead of in a cigarette dispenser. Would you want to stay there? If the hotel can't even keep up with sweeping up cigarette butts, imagine what the bedding and food is like.

According to TheDailyGreen.com, "Some 5.5 trillion cigarettes are consumed worldwide each year." Cigarette butts are one-third of the litter taxpayers are paying Street Sweepers to pay, and if you've ever seen a Street Sweeper, all it does is brush the litter back onto the grass and sidewalks, not remove the litter altogether. One thunderstorm or windy day in Chicago, and the litter is right back to where it started. With an outdoor receptacle, that's a one-stop place to discard the cigarettes for good.

Sources:

CigaretteAshtrays

"Cigarette Butt Litter Is More Than Just Annoying" TheDailyGreen.com

Ecolad Corporation

Illinois General Assembly (Tobacco Smoking)