As I understand it, you stub your cigarette there so that when you throw it into the bin there's no chance it'll set fire to the bin's contents. The corners aren't ashtrays! And yet there they are, all over the city! Bin after bin with stubbed out butts sitting just centimeters from where they belong, just waiting for a gentle breeze to come and blow them down the street!
Do people think that butts are some special sort of rubbish? That they can't go in the bin because they might contaminate it? That there's some little man who potters around the city's bins collecting butts specially because they can't be collected with the other rubbish? I guess that smokers could think that if they put their butts in the bin it might be a fire hazard, but that's why you're STUBBING IT OUT!
I suppose we're at the point now where the behaviour's just ingrained because monkey see, monkey do. But isn't it just common sense? Why can't smokers see beyond the pile of butts already there to realise it's a two-step process? Stub and throw, not stub and leave. I don't know. Confusing.
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As I understand it, you stub your cigarette there so that when you throw it into the bin there's no chance it'll set fire to the bin's contents.
ReplyDeleteYour understanding is flawed. A stubbed-out cigarette could still set fire to the contents of a rubbish bin.
I would assume (TWA) that the receptacles are being used exactly as intended.
"Cigarette butts make up about one third of the one billion items of litter entering Melbourne’s waterways each year and can take up to 15 years to break down."
ReplyDeleteFrom this I would conclude that it's desirable to secure butts and prevent them being litter on the loose.
"Proposed changes to Council’s Kerbside Café Code will require businesses to provide windproof ashtrays for all outside dining areas."
Meaning that there's a problem with open ashtrays where the wind can blow the butts away. The virtually flat... "stubbing zones" on kerbside bins are even less secure than most ashtrays.
"If butts are littered outside your premises clean them up. Sweep them into a rubbish bin and not into the gutter."
Just into a "rubbish bin". And unless there actually is some person who goes around collecting them into a fire-proof box, they'd end up in the bin sooner or later anyway.
Quotes from: http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/info.cfm?top=136&pa=1078&pg=1092
Some further thoughts - some my own, some gleaned from a chat with a smoker colleague. (One of the advantages of being a geek working with geeks is that no topic of conversation is ever too weird. Especially not on a Friday afternoon.)
ReplyDeleteThe corners aren't ashtrays!
Not in the sense of being an amusing kick-knack gracing the mantelpiece, no they aren't. But... well, see point 2 below...
Do people think that butts are some special sort of rubbish?
It certainly seems very clear to me that; yes, they do.
It is quite common in my experience for people to drop cigarette butts on the ground and stub them out with their feet. I would be willing to bet that most of these people do not dispose of their food or drink containers in a similar way. (Note that word, 'most'.)
But people are right to think this way, because there is a perfectly good reason why cigarette butts are a special kind of rubbish....
That they can't go in the bin because they might contaminate it?
Not contaminate. Set fire to. Unlike just about everything else we carry around or throw away (unless you're in the habit of nicking magnesium or - even more fun - sodium from the school chemistry lab) cigarettes have the potential to set other rubbish on fire.
Thus, care must be taken when disposing of them; and there is strong social pressure - almost a taboo - against disposing of them thoughtlessly. (which in this case does not first and foremost mean "littering", but "starting a fire".)
For smokers, being thoughtful can take several forms; in rough order from best to worst (IMHO):
1.I am informed that one can buy a receptacle specifically designed to contain one's butts for later disposal. I am also informed that no-one uses these.
2.Seperate ashtrays near rubbish bins, or built into them. Possibly containing sand.
I should note that the corner of the bin in your photograph seems to me to be an example of a built-in ashtray.
(I don't think it is a good example, mind you. And the biggest concern IMHO would not be a cigarette blowing down the street - but a cigarette blowing into the bin.)
3.Flush them down a public toilet. Handy if you happen to be there anyway, otherwise probably a hassle. I think Melbourne Water would disapprove, although they certainly won't start any fires.
3a.Drop them in the urinal. They won't flush, but they do provide practice targets. Again, a little inconvenient if you weren't there anyway; and especially if you're female.
4Stub out and drop in the regular bin. Make really sure you stubbed out. Really sure. Really Really sure; in fact, unless you're really really really sure, just...
5Drop on ground. Grind under heel like some crazy garbage called the blood of the exploited working class. Walk on.
6Throw it in the regular bin, without stubbing it out. (or maybe you think you did, but you were in a hurry, or something) Hilarity ensues because the last guy to use the bin just cleared out his stock of oily rags.
Cigarette butts make up about one third of the one billion items of litter entering Melbourne’s waterways each year and can take up to 15 years to break down.
From this I would conclude that it's desirable to secure butts and prevent them being litter on the loose.
Granted, but I still don't think that it is more desirable than making sure that bins don't catch fire.
Proposed changes to Council’s Kerbside Café Code will require businesses to provide windproof ashtrays for all outside dining areas.
Meaning that there's a problem with open ashtrays where the wind can blow the butts away. The virtually flat... "stubbing zones" on kerbside bins are even less secure than most ashtrays.
If you're saying that the design of the bin is not ideal, then I agree. (Of course, the council is presumably responsible for the design of those bins, so perhaps they should attend to the beam in their own eye before worrying about the cafe owners' ashtrays. But I digress.)
"If butts are littered outside your premises clean them up. Sweep them into a rubbish bin and not into the gutter.
Just into a "rubbish bin". And unless there actually is some person who goes around collecting them into a fire-proof box, they'd end up in the bin sooner or later anyway.
"Later" is good. "Sooner" is bad.
If it's "litter" by a table in a sidewalk cafe, it's most likely already been out for some time, so it won't start a fire.
If there is a taboo about carelessly disposing cigarette butts, 300 million butts a year in Melbourne's waterways would tend to indicate it's not a very effective one.
ReplyDeleteI think the consequences of butts being litter are greater than if they're fire-starters. In the unlikely event of one going up, there's a good chance the fire would be constrained to the bin, and eventually die out. I don't think it'd cause The Great Fires of Melbourne 2005. And I think that more people would be concerned about butts in the mouths of fairy penguins (and other cute and helpless animals) than the risk of an occasional fire in a bin.
So how long does a butt need to sit before you consider it to no longer be a fire risk? I don't have the figures but I would imagine that the number of bins that go up in flames around Melbourne each year would be pretty small. And I don't think the risk would increase if people were to act responsibly, stub the butt out good and proper, and then chuck it in. A bit of personal responsibility's all that's needed.
If the 'butt-zones' are being used the way they're intended, then yes, it's a very poor design. And one that I guess it's too late to do anything about now. We need all that money to spend on the Athlete's Village for the Commonwealth Games!
If there is a taboo about carelessly disposing cigarette butts, 300 million butts a year in Melbourne's waterways would tend to indicate it's not a very effective one.
ReplyDeleteI think the consequences of butts being litter are greater than if they're fire-starters.
The very fact that the consequences of butts being litter are greater than them being fire-starters indicates how effective the taboo - which is against disposing of cigarettes in ways that start fires, not against littering - actually is.
We don't see dozens of bins catching fire daily for the same reason we don't see people regularly dying in gasoline fights like the one in Zoolander.
Not because (throwing cigarettes in a bin/splashing petrol on people) isn't dangerous - but because it is, and is understood to be.
Without massive - and by 'massive' I mean, 'impossible' - changes in the way smokers think, you will never get people to dispose of fresh cigarette butts in a bin.
And with all due respect to the Fairy Penguins, this is a good thing.
And I don't think the risk would increase if people were to act responsibly, stub the butt out good and proper, and then chuck it in. A bit of personal responsibility's all that's needed.
The problem is that cigarettes are meant to smoulder; they are by design notoriously hard to extinguish.
Back when smoking was more widespread than it is today, there were advertising campaigns encouraging people not to smoke in bed. We don't see these anymore, so presumably it is now considered right and just for smokers to immolate themselves; or, perhaps, the advertising worked and no-one whould dream of smoking in bed anymore; or maybe the invention of the smoke detector led to sleeping through a house fire becoming less likely. But I digress.)
The risk was not just falling asleep with a lit cigarette in hand and setting the bedclothes on fire. Even after carefully extinguising their cigarette before going to sleep, people died because cigarette ash dropped (accidentally) on the bedclothes would smoulder unnoticed for hours before setting the bed alight.
Dispose of cigarettes where they can start fires and - sooner or later - they will, and do. Those bins in the city do catch fire from time to time, most likely I would imagine because cigarettes stubbed out on the "ashtrays" are blown into the rubbish. On a windy day, I'm far from convinced that embers blown from such a bin fire would find nowhere interesting to land.
If the 'butt-zones' are being used the way they're intended, then yes, it's a very poor design.
Victoria Gardens shopping complex and the associated tram stop have the same design of rubbish bin with two important differences. One, they are blue instead of green; (okay, maybe just one important difference) and Two, the 'ashtay/butt-zone' has an image of a cigarette stamped on it.
To me, that says "cigarettes belong here, not in the bin, and not on the ground nearby".
Since these are more recent than the bins in the city, I would guess that the stamp is an attempt to address the confusion caused by the bad design.