Halls plagued by butts

Halls plagued by butts
September 07, 2009 08:31 AM

A campaign to cut down cigarette butt litter has worked well across the country, with some communities seeing a 46 percent drop.

But a similar effort in Halls failed.

"Cigarettes are the most littered item in the country," said Allison Teeters with Keep Knoxville Beautiful.

Smokers light up and enjoy a smoke in their cars -- no problem. But when some of them flick their butts on the pavement, they pile up and stay there.

The filters can take decades to degrade.

Organizers of cleanup efforts believe people just don't make the mental connection between cigarette butts and litter.

"People who would never throw anything out of their car will throw out cigarette butts, because they don't realize it's litter," Teeters said.

Keep Knoxville Beautiful used a grant to participate in a cigarette litter prevent program. Volunteers picked up butts on a two-block stretch of Maynardville Highway in Halls.

They also passed out free car ash trays and pocket ashtrays, in an effort to change smokers' habits.

And then they returned to pick up butts along the same stretch of highway.

"Cars were flying past. And it's really disgusting. Who wants to touch something that's been in somebodies mouth?" Teeters said.

They actually found more cigarette litter afer the education campaign.

"The big blue bag is all our cigarette butts," Teeters said.

Teeters suspects pass-through drivers didn't get the message.

Now, their fall campaign will focus on enforcement, urging officers to write more citations for offenders.

"I had several people who stopped by and picked up car ashtrays and pocket ashtrays, because they've received $50 tickets for throwing out their cigarette butts," Teeters said.

Teeters said the way to keep Knoxville beautiful is to convince people to change their habits.

"It has to be peer pressure. Until more people are aware that cigarette butts are litter and start saying, 'please don't litter on the road,' then there not really going to be a change," Teeters said.

Keep Knoxville Beautiful also plans to run public service announcements to get the word out that cigarette butts are litter.

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