Southwark Council, the Primary Care Trust and Better Bankside are running the first Southwark Smoking Information Day since England became smoke free in July this year on Wednesday 5th December at St Mary Overie Dock at the end of Clink Street.

 

The event will coincide with Better Bankside’s installation of ‘buttcatchers’ to lampposts along Stoney Street, part of Park Street (opposite the Borough Market) and along the riverside just west of Southwark Bridge to the front of Zakudia, EAT, The Real Greek and Pizza Express restaurants.

 

Better Bankside is piloting the use of these robust cigarette butt (and gum!) collectors in Southwark. They have proved very effective in other London boroughs in reducing cigarette litter. Southwark Council will be monitoring the impact as well as emptying the bins and disposing of the waste.

 

One aim of the Smoking Information Day event is to help people to give up smoking by offering advice, guidance and support and people from the Primary Care Trust Smoking Cessation Advisor who will be on hand to offer advice and counselling.

 

Another aim is to encourage responsible disposal of cigarette litter. Research carried out by ENCAMS, the environmental campaign group running the Keep Britain Tidy campaign, shows that:

• Every day UK smokers throw away about 200 million butts and
• 122 tonnes of cigarette butts and cigarette related litter is dropped every day in the UK

Did you know... Discarded cigarette butts are treated under the smoking legislation as litter and that they could receive a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) of £75 if found throwing butts away. The power applies even if the incident occurs on private land or forecourt, such as the space outside of the front of an office block or in a courtyard within view of a public area.

 

The Council is enforcing these powers rigorously and at the end of October had issued 1128 Fixed Penalty Notices, the majority for cigarette litter and each resulting in a £75 fine (reduced to £50 if paid within10 days).

 

Better Bankside Rangers and the Borough & Bankside Community Wardens will be available on the day to advise on the impact of the smoking legislation, discuss ways of reducing litter, listen to your views on how to deal with this problem and to hand out Better Bankside Stubbis, cigarette pouches that allow you to dispose safely of cigarette butts.