Smokers

[HappyAgainOneDay]

I was out litter picking on the pavement outside my house this morning. I picked up mostly cigarette ends. There was very little of anything else. AIBU to wonder why smokers do not consider cigarette ends to be litter?

however. you're right there.

I imagine the number of smokers who genuinely stub out a fag butt on the floor and then pick it up and dispose of it is probably about 1 in a thousand.

I live in London and never, ever have I seen anyone do this

it's because they are disgusting

All smokers are disgusting, whatever they do with their litter, imo.

People in Australia had portable ashtrays when I was there (for forest fire prevention I think). Google portable ashtrays and there are about a million of them. No excuse really.

It was one of the many reasons that I gave up smoking.
Never knew what to do my fag ends and didn't want to chuck them on the ground.

Christmas presents for smokers solved then! I looked them up on the internet and there are some lovely ones on
e-bay at (sorry can't do links) www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=portable+ashtrays at reasonable prices. Pretty little metal boxes with lids. Oddly, there were some plastic ones too

Disclaimer: I am not related to anyone selling on ebay and I do not know any smokers any more (the last one died 3 weeks ago)

Ooh! It has linked automatically!

Smokers are not a homogenous group. I never leave butts on the floor or smoke in crowded places.
Labelling a whole group of people as disgusting, unless you perfect in every way, is ridiculous and sanctimonious.

LilithMoon Do you smoke in the town centre or at a bus stop?

No, never. I mainly smoke in my own back garden away from open windows. If I smoke on a break at work, there an area away from the buildings and near a bin. I never smoke when I am walking around as I think it is rude to blow smoke near other people especially children.

There are plenty of tins which can be used as portable ashtrays; indeed, there are plenty of portable ashtrays. My mum used to use an old Players No 6 tin as a portable ashtray. I think it amused her in a cerebral way.

Many litter bins now have a top on which butts can be stubbed and a compartment for dead butts.

As for litter - people have a lovely habit of chucking litter over our garden wall (only a couple of feet high). The Council say that there's a bin very close by, but it's actually on the other side of the main road through town at a nasty junction. They don't see it as a problem and think people will of course risk life and limb to cross it simply to chuck a crisp packet away. People, however, seem to think it's easier and safer to chuck their crisp packets into our front garden. Can't think why.

I have a 'stubby' that i use. You can get them cheap and some places even provide them for free

I used to chuck my cig ends on the floor. Until I stopped to think about it and it's weird but I had never actually thought about it. How stupid is that? I would not have dreamed of throwing a bag or anything onto the floor but somehow my cig end didn't count

Anyway, once I realised what a monumental tool I was, I started to keep my last empty fag packet to collect the cig ends from the new packet (cos yes it does make them foul) and put the ends in that, when the packet in use was empty, the old one would be thrown in the bin and the new one would become the new holder. So it just carried on packet after packet. You can even get a little plastic sandwich bag so the stink doesn't make your bag smell.

I quit over 2 years ago now so I don't have to worry about any of it.

I can't help but find smokers disgusting as well. Sure, I have bad habits but I can't imagine that me drinking a large glass of wine or getting a tan on holiday are repellent to those around me - is it? I have to have to walk through scores of smoke clouds every day, and it makes my hair smell. And the hardened smokers outside of the pub right next to my corner shop, hacking away with their phlegmy coughs... ugh. I just can't understand it.

I dont understand either.

I have a lot of smokers in my extended family and I can't say I'm ever that bothered by smokers but I do find 'smoker's denial' a really fascinating thing.

Every single smoker I know hugely under estimates how much they smoke. Those who claim 'five a day' are probably smoking 12 or so.

Also I know so many smokers who have terrible coughs and after one of their coughing fits they always say 'I'm just getting over a cold' - no- you're coughing your guts up because you smoke!

Nancy I know exactly what you mean. My parents did and still do smoke 20/30 a day each.
They often tell me about how they could always here me coughing in my cot as a baby.
Without irony

This thread seems pretty sanctimonious. I don't think I could write off the entire personality of a person because they smoke.

YANBU. I think if someone chooses to have the habit they should be responsible for their rubbish. On of my pet hates is people smoking in the street anyway! If it's just random people then I guess there's not much you can do about it however if you think it's neighbours (my mum had to have words with her neighbours who kept throwing them into her garden!!) them I would say something

YANBU it's littering. I do know what people mean about not wanting to put the stubs back in the packet, or not wanting to hold it until you find a bin (they're scarce in places), but surely smokers could put them in one of those little tin boxes? Then they wouldn't be "contaminating" their fag packet or worrying about hot embers.

Doesn't really bother me TBH.

I would think it odd if someone chucked one on the ground if there was an ashtray right there and I don't like it when people don't tread on them to put them out and just leave a red hot ember on the floor.

My German friends have portable ashtrays. It's the norm over there apparently. The government here talk about littering bur offer no alternative. Why don't they promote portable ashtrays and leaflet homes about how to dispose of waste in several languages.
Fly tipping is a huge issue here; mattresses ,sofas etc. The council collect them; at request for free or at least a nominal fee.
I've seen lots of stuff tipped in laybys and ditches in the nearby countryside yet we have so many public tips. Are people not ware they are there?
Too much like common sense for the council to make the public aware of such amenities.

I get more cross about chewing gum everywhere, and the THREE big piles of horse shit that are currently littering the roads next to me.

Some of those ashtrays are great! Tbh i think it's changing gradually in any case. I generally only smoke in the shelter at work with bins or my garden with an ashtray. It feels kind of wrong to smoke in the street these days. I certainly see very few people and it is really noticeable when someone does. I suspect I'm lucky though. I live in a small place which is kept very clean, i don't know if smokers use the bins provided or the street cleaners are very on top of things but butts don't seem to litter our town centre like I've seen elsewhere.

All smokers are disgusting, whatever they do with their litter, imo.

Aren't you lovely

And no I don't smoke.

EarthWindFire It is a disgusting habit. There might be someone smoking first-in-the-queue at our local bus stop. If I join the 'queue', I stand a good few feet away from him/her. Even then air waves bring the smoke / fumes to me for me to breathe. Makes me cough. Thank you, smoker.

It's the same in the street. One passes someone walking in the opposite direction and the fumes are there for one to breathe in. I always hold my breath now to pass - or hold a scarf up to my face. Why are they not embarrassed when 'shunned'? Surely that would be an incentive to give up?