What's With Smokers Who Flick Butts Into the Street? (apartment, college)

[Flamingo13]

Litter bugs bother me to no end - I'm a smoker who puts it out and throws the butt in a trash can (if one isn't nearby, I TAKE IT WITH ME until I get to a trash can) - same story with people who throw candy wrappers, etc. out their windows. I've gotten brave on a couple occasions when seeing this and pointed out or said "there are trashcans" - but you have to pick your battles (and judge whom you're speaking to), not willing to get beaten up over it.

[khuntrevor]

The fast food garbage is worse. I live close to a Wednesday night auction house. It's amazing how many people will toss their FF garbage out into the curb, before they go into the auction. Must be a lack of self respect or something. This guy's friend noticed my disgust and he picked it up and through it in the back of his p-u. Maybe they feared for the safety of their vehicle.

I have been a little concerned about the trash cans with no ashtrays..I would hate to see 15 foot flames 15 minutes later.

[mjw703]

I've had to put out a smoldering mulch fire started at my old apartment thanks to a smoker who flicked his cigarette off his balcony during a drought. Thankfully the fire didn't spread. I've also seen many brush fires started by cigarettes flicked by smokers out of car windows. I work in Rosslyn, and it seems every building has it's own cadre of smokers who huddle outside the doors and flick their cigarettes into the street, where they wash into the storm drains, and go into the Potomac where the filters will kill any fish or bird unfortunate enough to swallow them.

[Carlingtonian]

Flamingo13--kudos to you! Wish there were more who would follow your example.

If only the manufacturers would stop making filtered cigarettes, the butts (being all tobacco and paper) would degrade in weeks, if not days. I also think filters provide a false sense of reduced health risks.

[khuntrevor]

and what about those "sea whistles" at the beach. They are probably good for a couple of thousand years.

[Flamingo13]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

Flamingo13--kudos to you! Wish there were more who would follow your example.

If only the manufacturers would stop making filtered cigarettes, the butts (being all tobacco and paper) would degrade in weeks, if not days. I also think filters provide a false sense of reduced health risks.

I know they aren't healthy whatsoever, LOL - I make a point of glaring at others who grind them out on the sidewalk, pointedly look at the trashcans, etc. I agree that there are some disgusting smokers out there (my husband and I can proudly say we aren't among them)

[vermonter16]

I don't know.....what's with people who throw any trash into the street and not in the trash? Or those that don't recycle? That's a super pet peeve of mine! Being a former smoker, I can honestly say that I was NOT one of those folks. And it may have looked like I was crushing my butt out on the sidewalk but I was seperating the burning tobacco from the filter to throw it away without setting the trash on fire. If I smoked in the car, I'd twirl the butt to do the same thing and then stick it between the plastic and the box.

I don't think I'd make it a point to just glare at someone who is not throwing away their trash. I'd just ask them if they were going to throw that away. I really don't think glaring is going to get a person anywhere.

I left a note on a neighbors car who pulled up into the parking lot and was carrying a bunch of stuff...it was a windy day and a few of his plastic cups that he had blew away. He stopped, looked at them and moved on. I asked him the next time that something blew away, to at least make an effort to retrieve the trash and throw it away.

Not all 'smokers' flick butts into the street. I think EVERYONE should dispose of their trash properly no matter what it is and not just smokers throwing away their butts properly. It sounds like you have issues with your neighbors not being environmentally respectful and I don't think it has anything to do with the fact that they have guests over who just happen to be smokers and disrepectful as well.

[kevinm]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

On our otherwise pleasant street, we have some neighbors (next door, unfortunately) who are very uncouth. (Long story involving loose dogs, spilling trash, etc.)

Just today they had a big gathering at their house. One of their guests parked in front of our house; it's a public street, so fair game.

We happened to be on our front porch and saw two of their guests--a man and woman in their 60s--go out to their car (parked behind ours), where she started smoking. Annoying enough that they chose to smoke in front of our house rather than their hosts'.

But then we saw the woman throw her butt down into the street and walk off! Even worse, she threw it close to my car instead of her own. Then they went into the house.

I try to avoid confrontation when possible. And these people, though trashy, were much older than I am. And I try to show respect for old people unless they really get rude. So with this first butt, I grabbed it and threw it in front of the neighbors' house after they'd gone inside.

But they came back a while later. Another cigarette break by their car. Another butt thrown in the street in front of our house--right in front of me as I was gardening. I picked it up and walked after them as they walked toward the house next door.

"Excuse me." No response. Again I spoke up. "I'm sorry, but I think you dropped this."

"That ain't mine; mine's in the car." A lie, as my wife and I both saw her throw it down.

I dropped the butt atop the trash can of the neighbors they were there to visit. (These neighbors already have their overflowing trash bins in front of their house, two days in advance of garbage collection--unlike everyone else on the street.)
What is with smokers who think their butts are welcome wherever they flick them? I just think this is incredibly rude. Even worse, these people were at their car--which has an ashtray!

I realize butts are small--but they're trash. And they invariably end up washing into the curb in front of the nearest house. Yet smokers (most of them, anyway) think the world is their ashtray.

You wanna ruin your lungs, that's your business. (Putting aside taxpayer-funded tobacco subsidies and the increased costs of insuring and treating smokers--costs that get passed on to the rest of us.) But for God's sake, take your trash with you!

Am I the only one who finds this infuriating?

Thanks for letting me vent.

I would do the same thing. Where else are you supposed to put your trash cans if they are full? You can't keep the garbage in your house until trash day and stink up the house. I supposed they could buy additional cans to contain it all.

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by kevinm

I would do the same thing. Where else are you supposed to put your trash cans if they are full? You can't keep the garbage in your house until trash day and stink up the house. I supposed they could buy additional cans to contain it all.

You keep them by the side of your house till the night before collection--like all your neighbors do.

If you produce so much garbage that it overflows your cans, then yeah, you need another garbage can.

[SPHokie]

Originally Posted by khuntrevor

The fast food garbage is worse. I live close to a Wednesday night auction house. It's amazing how many people will toss their FF garbage out into the curb, before they go into the auction. Must be a lack of self respect or something. This guy's friend noticed my disgust and he picked it up and through it in the back of his p-u. Maybe they feared for the safety of their vehicle.

I can sympathize. I live in a SFH down the street from an apartment/townhouse development that is chronically short on parking spaces (probably due to hundreds of zoning violations, but that's another problem). So every night people who live in the apartments come into our neighborhood and gridlock the street parking for 2-3 blocks. This by itself is bad enough but they also have a tendency to leave trash (fast food bags, bottles, cans, etc.) in the street when they leave. The nerve of these scumbags! You drive into someone elses neighborhood, park right in front of someone elses house, and then leave a bag of trash on the curb?!?

Ok I'm done...thanks for listening