Keep your Butts off State Street, it’s not an Ashtray

For years there have been discussions, campaigns, clean up efforts and even threats of fines towards the ongoing problem of people throwing their cigarette butts on to the sidewalks and streets.  Know this: MEDIA IS NOT AN ASHTRAY.  In fact a similar statement was written in chalk outside Sligo’s and Stephen’s on State Street a few weeks ago during an event.  It said:  “The sidewalk is not your ashtray!”  I didn’t get a picture of it, but it provided a clever message about an issue that really does draw away from an otherwise pleasant State Street experience.  To those who wrote it, keep it up!

Businesses have been tasked with cleaning up their own outside areas, but some do a better job than others.  Part of the problem is that the butts get lodged between the bricks and are not easy to remove.  This can in turn lead to people thinking it’s okay to discard their butts on the ground. Interesting statistic from the 2010 Keep America Beautiful survey found that people are more likely to litter when they see a littered environment.  

This isn’t a new problem unique to Media, but a issue that many cities and towns deal with. Recommendations that came from the litter study include:

• Increasing availability of ash receptacles and portable ashtrays.
• Clean-up activities
• Educating the public
• Motivating and messaging individuals of personal responsibility.

As for clean up activities, I do want to recognize the efforts of Media Business Authority, Executive Director, Zubair Khan who along with a friend spend over 3 hours cleaning up cigarette butts last Saturday morning.  As appreciative Media is for him doing that, that’s not the expectation of a viable solution to this problem.  People need to be more proactive against littering when smoking.

Lastly, what’s almost just as bad is the discarded chewing gum on State Street’s sidewalks.  The sidewalks look awful with what looks like years of accumulating gum.  It’s so bad, you can’t find a concrete pad with out multiple gum spots.  With the success of Dining Under the Stars, I would hope this town works towards cleaning this mess up with a professional company that handles these types of issues.  In fact, a routine, frequent power washing of State Street wouldn’t be a bad idea either.