Dec 30, 2009
New Cigarette Disposal Urns Installed Uptown
Starting January 2, 2010, the new law, which bans smoking in nearly all restaurants and bars, takes effect in North Carolina. (Private clubs and cigar bars are exempted from the no-smoking restrictions.)
Once this law takes effect, the City of Charlotte Solid Waste Services anticipates an increase in smoking on sidewalks outside venues. The department plans to install 24 cigarette disposal urns in Uptown so smokers can responsibly dispose of their cigarettes and cigarette butts. They will work with Keep Mecklenburg Beautiful and Charlotte Center City Partners to generate awareness and education about responsible cigarette disposal.
Currently, City Services picks up thousands of cigarette butts off sidewalks and streets everyday to keep our city clean and keep litter from washing into storm drains. Cigarette butts carelessly tossed on sidewalks and streets pose a threat to our storm water system because they are not biodegradable and they release toxic chemicals in to the water system.
Below are some of the dangerous ingredients found in a cigarette butt: - Arsenic: a pesticide that causes diarrhea, cramps, anemia, paralysis and malignant skin tumors. - Acetone: It's one of the active ingredients in nail polish remover. - Lead: Lead poisoning stunts growth, causes vomiting, and causes brain damage. - Formaldehyde: causes cancer, can damage lungs, skin, and digestive systems. Embalmers use it to preserve dead bodies. - Toluene: highly toxic, commonly use as an ingredient in paint thinner. - Butane: highly flammable butane is one of the key components in gasoline. - Cadmium: cause damage to the liver, kidneys and brain, and stays in the body for years. - Ammonia: causes individuals to absorb more nicotine, keeping them hooked on smoking. - Benzene: found in pesticides and gasoline. All of the chemicals seep out of the cigarette butt almost immediately after it comes into contact with water. (Surfrider.org)
The goal of this initiative is to educate smokers and reduce the number of cigarette butts that litter our sidewalks and endanger our water system.
