Discarded cigarette butts are common in almost every area on the face of the earth, but local government is sick of the sight of them.
As social trends have relentlessly moved against the old habit of smoking due to its potential health consequences, local government has stepped in with its own creative way to stamp out cigarettes.
It comes in the form of an initiative from the City of Perth called the ‘Yuk’ campaign, designed to fight off the problem of cigarette butts being thrown onto the city’s streets, footpaths and gutters.
Smoking obviously hasn’t been eradicated despite federal efforts to force manufacturers to print unsightly images of charred lungs, clogged arteries and dreadful cases if gingivitis on cigarette packets, so the City of Perth wants to intensify the sense of “disgust” towards ciggies.
To ram the message home and educate children that smoking is a “yukky” habit, the four-week campaign includes signage and community interaction.
The City installed a two-by-five metre Perspex sign on the corner of William Street and The Esplanade and filled it with discarded cigarette butts to spell out the word ‘yuk’.
City of Perth chief executive officer Gary Stevenson said the giant sign is a visual reminder for people to shift their thinking about cigarette butt litter.
“Cigarette butts are the number one littered item in Australia,” Mr Stevenson said.
He said toxins like cadmium, lead, arsenic and zinc leach into the water and soil as cigarette butts break down.
“Cigarettes are not biodegradable and smokers must take responsibility and dispose of their cigarette butts properly,” he said.
Mr Stevenson also gave a stern reminder to smokers that cigarette butt littering is illegal and can result in a $200 fine.
“Especially if still alight,” he emphasised.
One of the quirkier aspects of the campaign is to hand out portable, enclosed ashtrays to smokers in the hope to minimise the amount of butts that are thrown on the ground.
The City of Perth isn’t the first council to launch a ‘Yuk’ campaign – the idea stemmed from the City of Sydney, which has installed its own ‘Yuk’ sign in Hyde Park filled with thousands of cigarette butts to highlight the big cost of littering.
