Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Ash-holes

One of my hugest pet peeves is seeing cigarette smokers throw their butts on the ground, which is why I was happy to read today that city council is planning on expanding their program of putting pole-mounted and concrete ashtrays along Edmonton’s busy downtown and Whyte Ave areas.  Hopefully, 124th Street, Alberta Avenue, Stony Plain Road and Chinatown/Little Italy will be the next areas to have the ashtrays show up and the butts disappear.

I think the whole concept of tossing butts out on the street is disgusting.  Those filters are made from cellulose acetate and take up to 15 years to degrade.  I’m sure millions of them end up in the water system every year and eventually find their way to the bottom of the oceans.  So gross.

And I hate, hate HATE it when smokers toss their butts out the window of their car.  I chew a lot of gum while I drive, but you don’t see me tossing my wrapper out, or spitting my gum onto the street when I’m done chewing it.

The ashtray program is expensive but I totally support that use of our taxes.  Lets get those butts off the street and into the trash where they belong!