No ifs, no butts - let’s all tackle this litter says Redditch ambassador - The Redditch Standard

No ifs, no butts - let’s all tackle this litter says Redditch ambassador

Redditch Editorial 18th Dec, 2019   0

REDDITCH’s Keep Britain Tidy Ambassador has backed a national campaign to encourage smokers to #BinTheButt in Redditch.

Rochelle Crawford is one of 250 Keep Britain Tidy #LitterHeroes Ambassadors, backing the charity’s campaign to stamp out cigarette litter, which causes significant damage to marine life, wildlife and scars the streets.

Along with local community environmentalist group Rubbish Friends Redditch, they will be encouraging smokers to do the right thing after research carried out for Keep Britain Tidy showed that only 53 per cent of smokers knew that cigarette butts get washed into the sea if they are dropped down the drain.

The charity has provided Rochelle with resources, including posters and beer mats, so Rubbish Friends can work with local pubs and businesses to reduce the number of butts dropped around local hotspots outside pubs, restaurants, cinemas and the train and bus station.




Dropped cigarette butts are the most common form of littering, with many simply thrown down a drain within the past month. However, the survey found one in ten do not even consider cigarette butts to be litter.

This campaign has been made possible thanks to support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery, who also support the #LitterHeroes Ambassador programme.


“Rubbish Friends’ intention isn’t to shame smokers, but to make them aware of the harm they are causing by not disposing of their cigarette butts properly,” said Rochelle.

“I recently found out that just one cigarette butt per litre of water is highly toxic to marine life. I would like to think that most people would be upset to hear this.

“However, with a little forward thinking and becoming more mindful, I am sure that smokers will be able to break the habit of incorrect disposal.”

Keep Britain Tidy CEO Allison Ogden-Newton said: “We are delighted that Rochelle is helping us get the message out to smokers to #BinTheButt and stop the flow of plastic, toxic cigarette butts into our rivers and oceans.”

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