PICTURE: New Keep Britain Tidy posters will be appearing across Mendip in a crackdown on cigarette litter
A new campaign to encourage smokers to 'stub it and bin it' is being launched on 100 of Mendip's litter bins.
New 'stubbing plates' are being fitted to a fifth of Mendip District Council's 500 bins in a drive to crackdown on irresponsible smokers who drop their 'dog-ends' on the ground.
The district council is stepping up its campaign in the face of staggering statistics which reveal that 40 per cent of the UK's litter is cigarette butts.
To help tackle this problem, Mendip District Council has purchased the metal stubbing plates which will be screwed to the tops of bins in Street, Glastonbury, Frome, Shepton Mallet and Wells.
The idea is to encourage smokers to conveniently stub out their cigarettes - ensuring they are completely extinguished and stubbed right down to the filter, before placing them in the litter bin.
As part of the district council's crackdown, new posters from the Keep Britain Tidy campaign will also be going on display in business and shop windows across Mendip, urging people to 'stub it, bin it'.
Mendip District Council's street scene services team leader, Cathy Day, said: "The statistics around discarded cigarettes are quite startling and they put into context the problem we have to deal with. Cigarette butts are such a small item that it takes very little effort to stub it out and throw it in a bin, of which we have 500 across the district. There is simply no excuse for throwing them on the ground."
Mendip's portfolio holder for street and landscape, Cllr Alastair Glanvile, said: "Not only are discarded cigarettes unsightly, but it is also costing you, the taxpayer, to have them cleared away along with the tonnes of other rubbish the district council picks up. Mendip is committed to ensuring we have cleaner streets in the district and just by stubbing it and binning it we will be able to successfully tackle this anti-social problem, and ensure resources are better spent on services for Mendip residents."