Main Navigation

This week the focus is on making Perth’s CBD a no-butt zone as the Bin Your Butt Week campaign sets out to educate smokers about the importance of disposing of their cigarette butts properly.

Bin Your Butt Week, which runs from 2 to 6 November, is a joint initiative of Keep Australia Beautiful WA and the City of Perth.

During the campaign two Keep Australia Beautiful inspectors and four City of Perth rangers will patrol the CBD and be issuing mock fines to make smokers aware of the penalties for littering their cigarette butts.

There will also be a Keep Australia Beautiful team of 25 people distributing free personal ash trays to smokers in the CBD and taking registrations from city building tenants for the Bin Your Butt program.

Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi said that although cigarette butts may be small and seem harmless, with more than 7 billion butts littered each year in Australia, the impact on the environment is significant.

"The toxic chemicals in cigarette butts leach into the soil or waterways and can impact on plants and wildlife," she said.

"Bin Your Butt reminds smokers to do the right thing and put their butt in a bin."

Keep Australia Beautiful Chairman Mel Hay praised the City of Perth for being the first local government to commit to the Bin Your Butt program.

"The City of Perth's support adds to the efforts of those city tenants trying to eliminate butt litter through the Bin Your Butt program," he said.

"There is no excuse for throwing a butt on the ground. It is a simple matter of finding a bin, and you can avoid a $75 fine.

"In WA there are more than 3000 registered litter reporters keeping an eye out for people who toss butts from their vehicles.

"Cigarette butt litter is not only unsightly but can also cause devastating bush fires. As the weather heats up it's even more important for smokers to be aware of the impact a discarded butt can have."

For more information on the Bin Your Butt program or to register your building to be butt-free contact Keep Australia Beautiful on 6467 5122 or via email at kabc@dec.wa.gov.au.

Photo opportunity: Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi and Keep Australia Beautiful Chairman Mel Hay will join volunteers and staff from the City of Perth and Keep Australia Beautiful to launch Bin Your Butt week at Forrest Place today (2 November) at 3.30pm.

Cigarette butt litter - fact sheet

• About 7 billion of the 24 billion filtered cigarettes sold every year in Australia are discarded as litter.
• 6 out of 10 Australian smokers discard their butts outdoors.
• The latest National Litter Index (coordinated by the National Keep Australia Beautiful Association) showed cigarette butts comprise about 43 per cent of the litter stream in Western Australia and is by far the most littered item.
• Butts are designed to capture vapours from cigarettes reducing the amount of smoke being inhaled. The captured smoke contains more than 4000 chemicals, including ammonia, nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, arsenic, lead, zinc and cadmium. As the butt start to decompose it releases these toxic chemicals into the environment.
• Within an hour of being in contact with water, butts start to release toxic chemicals into the environment. These chemicals can kill marine and freshwater invertebrates and disrupt fragile aquatic ecosystems.
• Butts can be mistaken as food by marine life and have been found in the stomachs of young birds, sea turtles and other marine creatures.
• It is estimated that about seven per cent of bush fires are caused by discarded cigarettes (Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria).
• Every year the Fire Emergency Services Association (FESA) is called to hundreds of roadside fires believed to be caused by discarded butts.
• Around 14 people in Australia die from cigarette-caused fires annually and infants are over-represented in these deaths (Monash University).