to smokers: please don't throw your butts on the ground

[Anonymous]

I don't know how some people have managed to decide that throwing your cigarette butt on the sidewalk, into the gutter, out your car window, etc. is somehow not littering...it is. Please find a trash can. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

ITA. Smoking is disgusting enough but I abhor how many smokers seem to think it's OK to treat the world as their personal ashtray.

[Anonymous]

I always bring mine inside with me after a smoke brake and throw it out in the trash can.

[Anonymous]

Oh, this thread turned so FUN last time! Yes, it's gross, and I especially loathe the sense of entitlement I see on people's faces as they throw their smoldering butts on the ground or out the window of their car.

I do appreciate folks throwing them in trash cans, but if you're outside, find a can outside, otherwise you stink up the inside of your building. And of course, it's kind of a fire hazard, but I'm sure everyone here knows that.

[Anonymous]

The best response to this is an account I read of a pedestrian who frequently observed drivers throw smoldering butts out their windows while stopped in traffic. On more than a few occasions, the pedestrian would pick up the butt and flick it back into the open car window just as the light changed or the traffic started to move, exclaiming "I think you dropped something!" -- and watch the panicked look on the driver's face.

[Anonymous]

My girlfriend once told me she was walking along the street when a driver who was stopped at a red light threw his butt out the window. She in turn dumped her entire coffee on his windshield and said "what? I thought we were emptying our trash?"

I wish I had that kind of balls.

As a side note: I notice most of the cars that do this have VA plates. Why is that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My girlfriend once told me she was walking along the street when a driver who was stopped at a red light threw his butt out the window. She in turn dumped her entire coffee on his windshield and said "what? I thought we were emptying our trash?"

I wish I had that kind of balls.

As a side note: I notice most of the cars that do this have VA plates. Why is that?

VA probably leads the region in smokers.

[Anonymous]

Probably because you live in VA?

It is a pet peeve of mine, too. When I see people doing it, I always ask them if they dropped something. It is disgusting. Smokers are disgusting.

[Anonymous]

I'm an avid non-smoker, but this type of post and complaint always baffles me. Why are you singling out smokers? The number of litterers in general seems to have gone up, from people dumping the paper from fast food, receipts they don't want, to candy wrappers and pieces of newspapers around. Yes, smokers litter. But don't make non-smokers look so high and mighty because a lot of them are just as bad, they just throw other things out. The number of people that I've seen throw things out of car windows is amazing to me.

STOP LITTERING PEOPLE. Find a receptacle that was designed for trash, not the car window.

[Anonymous]

Just yesterday the asshole in front of me threw his and the freaking thing hit my windshield! I wonder what would have happened if I had the windows open (what I often do during Summer).

I hate smokers!

[Anonymous]

Throwing the butts on the ground is very bad for the environment too. If you care about the environment but throw butts on the ground, you really should look at this: : http://www.cigarettelitter.org/index.asp?PageName=Facts

PS There's also an anonymous form on the site above which you can fill out to have a message sent to a smoker whom you know who throws their butts on the ground.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Probably because you live in VA?
It is a pet peeve of mine, too. When I see people doing it, I always ask them if they dropped something. It is disgusting. Smokers are disgusting.

Oh. Aren't you smart.

I live in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm an avid non-smoker, but this type of post and complaint always baffles me. Why are you singling out smokers? The number of litterers in general seems to have gone up, from people dumping the paper from fast food, receipts they don't want, to candy wrappers and pieces of newspapers around. Yes, smokers litter. But don't make non-smokers look so high and mighty because a lot of them are just as bad, they just throw other things out. The number of people that I've seen throw things out of car windows is amazing to me.

STOP LITTERING PEOPLE. Find a receptacle that was designed for trash, not the car window.

Agree, but you will likely never see a non-smoker toss a cigarette butt out a car window. And while littering is bad, most trash isn't on fire.

I would also like to add that people who leave their newspapers on metro are gigantic douchebags. There are recycling bins on the platform. It's not that hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Agree, but you will likely never see a non-smoker toss a cigarette butt out a car window. And while littering is bad, most trash isn't on fire.

I agree - also, in cities like ours, butts alone make up about one quarter of all trash on the streets, which is a kind of high for just one item. And I would have to say, I rarely see people toss other types of trash out car windows, onto sidewalks. I very frequently see smokers toss butts, however.

[Anonymous]

It's astonishing to me that anyone still smokes these days. Maybe someone over 50 or 60, who got hooked very young before the dangers were so well-known....but young people? It baffles me every time I see a person under 30 smoking.