In this day and age, smoking is becoming a thing of the past. It's no longer shown on television or in ads. The Marlboro Man has become an icon for cancer as opposed to his past career as a sex symbol. Movements to eradicate smoking from our society are well under way. But the reality is that many people in our society do smoke. And it is still (at least for now) legal.
This is a fact that many people don't seem to accept. I mention this, not to advocate for smoking, but to advocate for proper disposal of used cigarettes.
Public ashtrays are, seemingly, quickly being phased out. The harder you look, the harder they are to find. I'm not clear as to why, but I'm guessing it's part of the master plan to eliminate smoking. Does this keep people from smoking? Not at all, it simply limits what they can do with their butts (uh... their cigarette butts).
Outside my apartment, for example, there is no ashtray. So people throw their butts in the rockery- it makes sense as this is a fairly fireproof area. But it does nothing to add to the aesthetic of the area, and it certainly isn't very green. Rain (and, if it ever warms up again, melting snow) wash the cigarette butts down the drains into the sewer system, eventually washing them into our rivers and lakes. There, they can be eaten by various critters, pollute the water, and basically wreak havoc on the environment.
Many people blame smokers for this, claiming they need to take responsibility for their trash, or better yet, quit smoking. And yes, smokers do need to take responsibility for the waste they create, but they need to be given an opportunity to do so properly.

We are all responsible for our garbage. Imagine, however, that there are no public trash bins. Anywhere. What would your choices be? How would you act? I've lived in cultures that have no public trash cans, and I know what happens (see my recent blog post, When In Rome...)
I appreciate those smokers who take the extra time to stub out their cigarette and throw it in the garbage can, but I always have a niggling sensation that it's not been completely put out and could cause a fire. Not the best choice, but seemingly the lesser of two evils (the alternative being to simply drop it on the ground).
So please, let's bring back the public ashtray. As a society we claim to want to be green. We're willing to spend money on initiative after initiative to become more environmentally friendly. Here's a simple one. And don't forget to hit the unemployment lines with job offers to keep the ashtrays clean. More jobs and cleaner streets- sounds like a good combination to me.
And getting back to my apartment complex, I know for a fact that several smokers in my building have requested, on multiple occasions, an ashtray for our building. And though most smokers here go outside to indulge, management has denied the request every time.
So I just wanted to say thank you to whoever (management?) finally placed a butt bucket outside our main door.

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