Butts3GS, Boston Borough Council’s partner enforcement organisation, is out and about catching litterers in Boston – many of whom face a £75 fixed penalty for having discarded a cigarette end.

To avoid getting landed with a £75 fine for throwing down a cigarette end in the street, why not collect a FREE portable ashtray from Boston Borough Council? Thanks to funding from Boston Big Local, the council has 3,000 portable personal re-useable ashtrays to give away. They can be carried in a pocket or handbag and provide a safe way for cigarette ends to be contained until they can be binned. The portable ashtrays enable smokers to dispose of their cigarettes responsibly and not run the risk of being confronted by an environmental enforcement officer.

Cigarette butts may be small, but the problems caused by cigarette litter are huge. Globally, an estimated 4.5 trillion are discarded every year – making them the most common form of litter on the planet. It can take up to ten years for a cigarette butt to degrade. The butts contain chemicals that pose a serious threat to living organisms and ecosystem health because they are toxic to microbes, insects, fish and mammals.

You can pick up your free on-the-move ashtray from the council offices at Municipal Buildings, in West Street, the Geoff Moulder Leisure Complex, the Guildhall, and partner organisations who distribute them for the council.