Naples' beaches add "butt bags".
 

Yesterday on my morning beach walk I ignored workmen doing something along the access ramps to the beach along Olde Naples (near the pier). This morning I see what they were doing was putting up poles with bag holders for "butts". These "butt bags" are for cigarette smokers to put their butts in rather than leaving them on the beach. Isn't that a nice idea? I wonder if it will work.

One of my favorite things to do while sitting at a traffic light is to roll down my window when I see someone throw out their cigarette butt and ask them if they throw all their trash out the window -- or ask them who they think will be picking up their cigarette butt or if they think it will somehow magically disappear. I usually get the finger or an obscenity, but it always makes me feel better anyway.

lol Patrick! :D

When I first saw this post's title, I thought you were talking about thongs or diapers or something along those lines...

Thanks for making me spit out my drink on my keyboard! ;)

Ha! I can just picture you Patrick, good for you!
I have said something on occassion to someone doing something similar and the response is always the same, the Finger or a snarled "Don't worry about it"...we used to summer at the beach in Long Island and my children ran around everywhere barefooted..we all did. But there was always some non-thinker walking around tossing smoldering butts on the ground..sigh.
I hope it works in Naples~

Patrick, South Carolina has a toll free litter line that encourages people to call when they see others littering from their cars. Particularly the butt factor.

OK, since we're started on the subject: Are cigarette butts harmful to the environment? I guess I can see how the filters might be, but what about the nonfiltered? Would that be any different than tossing an apple core out the window?

Do I think people will use the butt bags? Not in this century, unless some type of butt-litter law is enforced.

Patrick: Good luck with your anti-butt campaign. Let us know what hospital you end up in so we can send flowers and cards.

Cigarette filters are not only dirty, but pose a threat to birds and sea life. Even unfiltered cigarette butts can be very harmful to the environment-especially since they are usually burning when tossed.

Of course, on a beach, there is little to burn other than children's feet.
:-o)))

If smokers won't even use the ash tray in their car, I doubt they will get up and use the butt bags! :@)

Quote: Would that be any different than tossing an apple core out the window?

What kind of degenerates throw apple cores out of their windows??

Kudos to you Patrick. As the daughter of a lifelong environmentalist, I applaud all people who are working to make a difference in our planet. Since we all love to travel, who wants to travel somewhere and find it filthy? Not to mention that I personally like the area I live in to be clean.

BTW, my imagination did frolic a bit with the "butt bag" heading. Some new kind of bathroom device for adults? LOL

If you're in NC, you can report cars that litter at http://www.doh.dot.state.nc.us/opera...g/salform.html.

The Highway patrol sends the offender a threatening letter. I keep a pen and pad in my car.

Diana thanks for the laugh of the day, I just pictured you with drink all over your keyboard :D

Patrick,.=D> I see those people too, makes me wonder what their home looks like

Whoa, sunnybrook!
Now "degenerates" throwapple cores out of windows? Whew!

My question related to impact on the environment, not etiquette. In fact, I once had a science professor
tell me that throwing apple cores out the window was GOOD for the environment.

Of course, he was probably
a degenerate.

An applecore is most definitely a different matter.

Not only is the apple biodegradable but it will most likely get eaten by some form of animal.

The core also contains the seeds which of course may lead to the growth of another apple tree.

As a former smoker, I always kept a cup with sand in it with me on the beach and not only threw my butts away but those of other smokers as well.

Cigarette butts are horrible for the enviroment.

Lots of marine life, but especially sea turtles, have been known to mistake floating debris for food. I guess they didn't grow up hanging around behind the 7-11 smoking cigarettes in their youth and so have no idea that's what it is. These items, including pill bottles, balloons, fireworks, get caught in their digestive tracts and they die.

In New Mexico, they used to have a minimum $500 fine for littering on the highways. I don't know if they still have it or whether or not they ever enforced it but I thought it was a darned good idea.

So why can't the smokers use the garbage cans on the beach like everyone else!?!?! [-X

I had an entirely different mental image of a "butt bag", for the beach. Need we go further? LOL We are always the last to know if we need it too!

I was in a turn lane stopped behind someone who threw, not a single butt, but the contents of his entire ashtray out onto the road (in front of DH's hotel :(). Almost put my car in park to get out and give a lecture, then thoughts of road rage and some of the stories I've heard here, deterred me.

We've done volunteer clean-ups on the Causeway. If you've ever done one, you will never throw another scrap of anything, no matter how small, from your car. Unfortunately the people who volunteer for these clean-ups are also probably the people who are least likely to litter, and least likely to benefit from the experience. Too bad that isn't the mandatory punishment if caught in the act.

Good for you Patrick, I am usually too much of a coward to say anything.

Another thing that suprises me is people stick the butts down opnings in drain cover. Does this not clog drains? I've seen people do this openly in public, usually a couple of people me included glare, but say nothing :(

What a great idea! As a recently former smoker myself I've always hated it when people left their butts everywhere. At the beach, I always brought a baggie to put my butts in. Alot of times I ended up with butts and other peoples garbage too. (When are people gonna learn?)

Most new cars don't have ashtrays. Atleast mine didn't. So I bought one for my car that was shaped like a cup.

I'm not a smoker anymore but it bothered me when I did smoke as well as now to see butts all over the road or beach.

I must say I wondered what the heck a butt bag could be! Love the idea though!!!

A couple years ago in WA they were really cracking down on this on the roads. The police were giving out hefty tickets right and left for this. Mostly it was because of the risk of fire...but hey, works for me, lol!

While living in GA we routinely saw people throw entire bags of garbage out their windows. We are still baffled by that!!!!!!

Maybe this butt bag will catch on...wouldn't that be great?!

Diana, sorry about the drink on the keyboard. Send me the bill. (But I'll probably put it in a butt bag).

What kind of degenerate throws apple cores out their car windows? Probably people like k_999_9 who see nothing wrong with it. I'm not talking about out into the dirt along a country road here, I'm talking about in the middle of the street in town. That somehow helps the blacktop?? Get serious! Somebody still has to come along and clean it up -- at least if your town is kept clean like ours is. And come on now -- how many people are throwing out non-filter butts? I won't make a guess as to actual percentages, but I can assure you the vast majority of those being thrown out windows have filters on them. And how long does it take for those to break down?

And k_999_9 it's a good thing that there are many people in this world who AREN'T like you. You feel no one will use them unless it becomes an enforced law. Believe it or not there are some people in this world who WILL see them and bother to put their butts in them simply because they DO care. You're like the guy throwing trash out on a hiking trail once and when I spoke to him about it he responded that if they don't put trash cans out on the trail then they should expect people to throw their trash on the ground? Huh? What kind of idiotic reasoning is that -- oh yea, the same kind of reasoning you have.

By the way, "butt bag" was their term, not mine. It says that right on the dispenser and on the bags themselves. Incidentally the bags are pretty big --and I suppose will also be used for people to put various waste into. I'd also think dog owners may take them to clean up behind their dogs (which in theory aren't allowed on our beaches).

Patrick, Patrick, Patrick. Calm yourself. I did not say I saw nothing wrong with throwing apple cores out of windows. Asked about environmental impact.

OK, if it makes you feel better to think of me as some degenrate, law-breaking, anti-environment, pro-smoking Nazi, go for it.

OK, I'm perfectly calm. But am I the only one who interpreted your remarks as indicating you thought there was nothing wrong with throwing an apple core out the window (even quoting your teacher who said it was good)?

My response to what kind of degenerate would . . ." was that it would be the same kind of person who would try to justify such activities as you mention the way you did. That kind of reasoning is the cause of all the cigarette butts being on the ground in the first place. Does it REALLY impact the environment? Duh????

Patrick, I had to laugh at that because who indeed would throw an apple core out of a moving car? I'd be afraid to eat it and try and drive because I'd end up choking!

Y'all know I'm notorious for feeding birds off my deck.

It makes me cringe to see people throwing scraps of food away when I know how much the birds love them.

When I'm eating out, I take all scraps home for the birds. I also get scraps from my husband's place.

My neighbors think I'm crazy because every afternoon I'm throwing tons of food off my deck. The people who rent the vacation rentals around us must think I am a backwoods redneck who has never heard of a garbage disposal.

<<" was that it would be the same kind of person who would try to justify such activities as you mention the way you did. That kind of reasoning is the cause of all the cigarette butts being on the ground in the first place. Does it REALLY impact the environment? Duh????>>

Cue the music from "The Twilight Zone." Patgrick, reading your stuff is like watching a car wreck. I know it's awful but I just can't stop myself from looking. Have a good weekend and watch out for those flying apple cores. I'm off to watch my beloved Bosox.

>>In New Mexico, they used to have a minimum $500 fine for littering on the highways. I don't know if they still have it or whether or not they ever enforced it but I thought it was a darned good idea.<<

If it's still a law, very few people pay attention to it.

Patrick, the mother of one of my friends has been known to get out of her car, pick up the cigarette butt, and hand it back to the litterer with a smile and a "Excuse me, I think you dropped this..."

Lee Ann

I have to admit to throwing orange peels out the window on the highway. And what about Johnny Appleseed, Patrick?

Now if they could do something about the baggy butts in Naples! Not to mention white hair and blue legs ;-)

TG, everyone knows Johnny Appleseed didn't drive his car cross country throwing appleseeds out of the window.

Sheesh!

He rode his Harley.

:-D

C:-) ...or did he plant apple TREES as he zoomed along on his chopper? He knew how to work the throttle and plant the trees at the same time.

Ah, folklore. Tis lost on the ignorant who reclaim it and turn it into pablum for the masses. Applesauced!

Llinda, you got that wrong -- surely you meant "blue hair and white legs"!

Tandoori Girl, Johnny Appleseed missed Naples, particularly seeding apple trees down the middle of US 41.

k_999_9, yea. I know. The feeling is quite mutual!

On first look, I thought this was a thread about fanny packs...

I think butt bags are a nice idea (and a very amusing name). However, I think smokers who are considerate don't litter anyway (use cups, carry their butts to garbage cans, etc). Those who are inconsiderate of the environment will unfortunately probably continue to be that way regardless of the newly hung bags. Too bad - beaches are so beautiful they are certainly one of the most depressing places to see littered.

Does anyone remember Iron Eyes Cody, the "Crying Indian" whose tearful face in the 1970s television commercials became a powerful symbol of the anti-littering campaign? I wish they would run that PSA again - it made a significant positive impact.

Have a pocket full of pennies and I'm spending two cent here.

One thing I will never forget from college was a classmate that dumped his own full ashtray into the open sunroof of the car next to us - whose driver just tossed a smoldering cigarette butt out his car window. These days, however, you never know who is armed to the teeth and willing to start a gunfight.

The reason a filterless cigarette butt is bad for the environment is that they often start fires.

Surely, by now, we all know that apple cores are fine for the dirt, and bad for the asphalt. This was never in dispute, friends.

We can't expect people who have no regard for their own bodies to have any higher regard for the environment.

Naming the bags "butt bags" is their pure intention to get the general public to notice. If the name didn't border on controversy, we wouldn't be discussing this.

Cheers!

At least they didn't name them "Ass Trays"
:-P

seetheworld - Yes. I saw that commercial so many times. Being a certain % Native American I feel I can say this : The reason this particular approach had little measurable effect was that - you remember - USA was partially built upon stealing the land from the Natives. If we didn't respect them at first, why would we later?

Judging from my parking lot, things are improving. Perhaps people will use the "butt bags". I own a small grocery store. Years ago, it was normal to have people walk in and drop their butts right on the floor,stamp them out, and go about their shopping. Have not seen that in years, and the amount of butts in the parking lot has decreased. I did have a guy dump his car ashtray along side his car while I happen to be out sweeping..I just calmly walked over without saying a word, sweep them up and dumped them on his back seat while he was inside.

Whenever someone throws their cigarette butt out the car window, I think what if their car blew up? Every time! I can't recall a single new story that I heard where someone's car caught on fire from a cigarette butt, but why would you want to take the chance? I know, I'm ridiculous...

Patrick, I posted this before but it didn't post.
When I first read the title of your thread I thought you meant Naples was sending old bags with big butts to what? Wander around the beach?
Oh well, it is Friday.

LoveItaly, you're way behind times. They've been doing THAT in Naples for years and years.

Hehe Patrick, the last time I was in Naples I sorta noticed that. But thought now maybe the city had licensed them to do "their thing" or something.
What do I know?
I do loves Naples, you are lucky to live there.

An update: This morning I peeked in three of those dispensers and they were all empty. So I don't know if people are taking the bags to use for litter (which it also says they are for on the dispenser) or they are just stealing bags. Meanwhile, I suppose they're going to need to resupply those dispensers daily if they want them to work.
(I also peeked in the nearby trash cans, but all were empty as they had just done a pickup.)