How to Report Cigarette Butt Litter

Cigarettes are the last vestiges of litter that people often ignore. Smokers too often throw their finished butts out of car windows and on the ground wherever they are when finished with the smoke. As a consumer of city, park and private services, you have a right to make reports of the unsightly litter, especially when it piles up and becomes and eyesore and detriment to the environment.

Instructions

• 1

  Send a letter to your governor. Express your concern over the cigarette butts you are seeing in your community. The more of these consumer reports received by the governor's office, the more likely you will see some rules adopted.

• 2

  Contact your local elected leaders through phone calls and letters. Send graphic pictures of sites you want to report. Let them know where you find the most egregious offenses.

• 3

  Take pictures of people smoking outdoors who leave their cigarette butts on the ground. Tell them you are collecting information to send in reports to your local law enforcement agency. Sometimes you can scare or guilt cigarette consumers into picking up their trash before they start receiving fines. Use the pictures to report the offenders in states that currently have litter laws covering cigarette butts.

• 4

  Call your local trash agency to find out what options you have to report the offensive litter. They can tell you where to send your reports and what to include to be more effective in your campaign.

• 5

  Join a local environmental organization to give your complaints more clout. Consumer groups typically have more success in initiating new laws and creating forums for protest than individuals. There is power in numbers, politically and socially.