Cigarette butt litter is the most common form of litter in the Bayside City Council particularly in shopping strips, and close to cafes and bars. The project objective was to reduce cigarette butt litter within the Black Rock cafe/bar and restaurant precinct.
The first step of this SRP was to run cigarette butt surveys along Bluff and Balcombe Roads to identify cigarette butt hotspots. One survey was conducted prior to the new smoking bans taking effect on 1 August 2017, and one several weeks following the ban. This helped identify butt litter hotspots and was used to assess if the new smoking laws had the desired effect.
The surveys found no significant difference in the total number of cigarette butts littered before and after the introduced laws. People were smoking in the same locations and were disposing of their butts in the same manner.
Following the survey, Bayside City Council along with SRP participants decided it was necessary to create signage to direct smokers to existing butt bins. Signs are being designed and will be stuck on the ground in current butt hotspot locations.
Following the signage installation, a third butt survey will assess if signs are having the desired effect on disposal behaviour.
This project was funded through Sustainability Victoria’s Litter Innovation Fund.
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