Three in 10 smokers wrongly believe cigarette butts are biodegradable, according to research.
A study of 1,000 smokers revealed 38 per cent have tossed a stub down a drain, with three in 10 believing this to be an ‘appropriate’ method of disposal.
More than a third (34 per cent) even thought binning them in drains would accelerate the breakdown of the cigarettes.
Key reasons for discarding fag-ends this way include being in a rush (23 per cent) or simply feeling that everyone else does it so they may as well to the same (15 per cent).
The study was commissioned by Keep Britain Tidy, which is working with a London pub to highlight cigarette-related litter problems, after its data revealed hospitality premises see among the highest volumes of discard butts.
'The White Swan', in Twickenham, is being renamed to 'The Poisoned Swan' to highlight the impact dropping butts down drains has on wildlife.
New patron, Johnny Vegas, said: "It seems a lot of smokers don’t realise they’re doing more harm than good by disposing of their butts in drains.”
A study of 1,000 smokers revealed 38 per cent have tossed a stub down a drain, with three in 10 believing this to be an ‘appropriate’ method of disposal.
More than a third (34 per cent) even thought binning them in drains would accelerate the breakdown of the cigarettes.
Key reasons for discarding fag-ends this way include being in a rush (23 per cent) or simply feeling that everyone else does it so they may as well to the same (15 per cent).
The study was commissioned by Keep Britain Tidy, which is working with a London pub to highlight cigarette-related litter problems, after its data revealed hospitality premises see among the highest volumes of discard butts.
'The White Swan', in Twickenham, is being renamed to 'The Poisoned Swan' to highlight the impact dropping butts down drains has on wildlife.
New patron, Johnny Vegas, said: "It seems a lot of smokers don’t realise they’re doing more harm than good by disposing of their butts in drains.”
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FunTranscript
00:00As a landlord we have realised that there is a problem with butts, now that customers
00:07have got to come outside to smoke and they feel like they're doing the right thing by
00:11putting them down the drains but really they're not, they're making it much worse.
00:20We've transformed the White Swan to the Poison Swan for Keep Britain Tidy.
00:2738% of people are putting cigarette butts down the drain because they've no idea that
00:38it's the wrong thing to do. In fact 47% of people have absolutely no idea that cigarette
00:44butts are full of plastic, they're full of toxic chemicals and when they go down the
00:47drain they end up in our canals, our rivers and on our beaches. I think people are very
00:52uneducated on the subject, so are we. We're here today to spread the message that putting
00:57cigarette butts down the drain is actually killing the environment. Here we are at the
01:01Poison Swan helping people understand that what they need to do is use a butt box, use
01:06an ashtray but whatever they do, don't put their cigarette butt down the drain. So we
01:11would encourage all other pubs, especially on the river, to get involved and to get these
01:15butt boxes so all their customers can put their dead ends into these butt boxes.