Colorado Springs cracks down on throwing cigarette butts amid fire concerns
The Colorado Springs police and fire departments are cracking down on people who throw their cigarette butts outside due to fire concern, but environmentalists are fighting the same battle for a different reason.
Jane Ard-Smith, Chair of the Pikes Peak Group of the Sierra Club, says she and her team have seen the problem first hand, especially while cleaning up the Monument Creek by Roswell Park. She says cigarette butts are the number one item they pick up.
They’re also the number one item that’s littered across the entire world.
An estimated 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are littered every year. The Truth Initiative, an anti-smoking organization, reported that cigarette butts have made up 30-40% of the world’s litter since the 1980s. The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) says they can be toxic to freshwater aquatic life when the chemicals inside the cigarette leach into the waterways.
While it’s a major concern to environmentalists, CSPD says they’re more worried about the safety hazard. In a dry area like the Springs, an improperly disposed-of cigarette butt can start a fire in a matter of minutes.
Just perform a simple Google search of “cigarette fire Colorado Springs” and you’ll see more than a dozen fires started by cigarettes in recent years.
If you get caught tossing a cigarette butt outside, the fine is $100 in the city. However, the state will fine up to $500 for first offenses, and up to $1,000 if you’re caught doing it again.
