People who can't properly dispose of their cigarette butts are serious assholes.

[devilgrrl]

I don't want to start another smoking thread but this one issue in relation that pisses me off - and I smoke!

How fucking hard is it to put your cigarette butts in an ashtray or other trash container? Do you really have to throw it on the ground or out the window of your car? Huh?

I think cigarette butt throwers should be fined to the max!

:mad::smoke::rant::grr::smoke:

[DaveJ]

1. Harder than it used to be.

You don't see many public ashtrays these days.

[devilgrrl]

5. Fine, then get a Altoids tin and deposit in there until you run into a trash can.

It's not that hard.

Some stooge probably started one of the brush fires in CA by tossing a butt out the window. :mad:

[DaveJ]

15. Agreed

But I was just answering your question, even though I know it was rhetorical.

BTW, My pet peeve is people who honk their horns a lot. So annoying, they even do it in the allies thinking it's for safety or something rather than just driving slowly and carefully.

[devilgrrl]

20. I wasn't making about you, sorry about my tone, I was commenting in general.

:blush:

[DaveJ]

31. I wish I could disagree with you. I enjoy a heated debate.

Another thing that upsets me is that it is almost impossible to find any support for people who want to quit smoking, at least around here. And health insurance companies don't cover the cost of anti-smoking aids like Chantix, Zyban, patches, etc. As evil as people make smoking out to be, you'd think they'd be handing out the stuff for free.

[devilgrrl]

37. There's no money in being healthy.

:shrug:

[tandot]

48. There is a Smoking Cessation Group on DU:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=326

Also, if you post in the Lounge, you might get some support there.

I think there are a lot of ex-smokers here (I am one of them) and if you ask for support, you'll be surprised about how many DUers respond kindly. And there are plenty of smokers here who've tried to quit but picked it up again. Relapse is just a normal part of the process as we fight our addiction (at least for many smokers).

good luck :hi:

[LanternWaste]

84. Hey! That's exactly what I do.

Hey! That's exactly what I do... right down to the Altoids tin (although I keep it in a zip-lock so it doesn't make me even more smelly that the cigarettes already make me)

[Toots]

82. Another reason you should not smoke in public

Or is it your God given right to throw your trash on the ground as well as putting your trash in the public air.

[High Plains]

100. I hope you ride a bicycle to work.

[devilgrrl]

105. Oh he does - he's PERFECT, you aren't.

Didn't you know that?

:sarcasm:

[devilgrrl]

104. Your self-righteous indignation is as foul as second-hand smoke.

if not worse.

:nuke:

[Toots]

116. Good maybe you get the picture then

Your cigarette smoke is a foul as it gets yet you insist upon shoving it in everyone's face as your American right. It is the type mentality that the right wing exhibits. It is not a fucking right to pollute my fucking air.. Get it???? Pollute your own fucking air and I could care less, in fact with your attitude I am happy for it but why do you insist upon polluting mine? Polluting my life source is not an American Right.. Get used to it.. Humans need three things to sustain life Food, Water and Air. None should be allowed to be polluted arbitrarily just for one's pleasure..

[devilgrrl]

117. You name one person who posts on DU that blew cigarette smoke in your face?

Since you want to make it personal - let's hear it!!!!!

:hi:

[Megahurtz]

111. Spit On It, Roll It Between Your Fingers

and put it in your pocket until you get to a trash can!!! How fucking hard can that be?

[Arkansas Granny]

2. If I don't see a proper receptacle, I carry the butts in my pocket

until I find one. I won't throw them on the ground.

[devilgrrl]

8. You are awesome!

Same here!

[iamthebandfanman]

50. same with me too

i usually just pop them back in the pack... tho im only a part time smoker myself ;)

[Blue Diadem]

12. I'll either do that or put them back in my hardpack.

I have plastic cases since I roll my own.

[The Traveler]

18. I field strip 'em

Basically tear it down to the filter and stash that in a pocket until I find a trash can or something. This is just not hard to do.

[Mugu]

60. Same here, field strip and carry until a proper receptacle can be found.

Clearly, people who otherwise have never been in the military.

Regards, Mugu

[susanna]

61. Wow - I was never military...

...and never heard the term field strip, but...yeah. That's what I did! You learn something new every day.

on edit: punctuation

[XOKCowboy]

66. Ya know that's funny because I learned the technique from an ex-Marine

Now I know where he got the habit. I take it that a cigarette butt on a military base is a MAJOR offense?

[Mugu]

94. It's something that you'll only do once.

They take a very dim view of any kind of littering.

Regards, Mugu

[Bake]

102. I learned it from a Navy guy.

And it's what I do now, too.

Bake

[XOKCowboy]

65. Same here...

Roll the fire out in the dirt then stick it in my pocket till I can find a receptacle. Hey it's my bad habit. I try not to impose it on others.

[WilliamPitt]

75. Ditto. Stub out on the shoeheel, save it for a trash can.

[porphyrian]

3. I don't smoke any more, but I used to field strip them. - n/t

[WI_DEM]

4. one of my pet peeves are those who throw their cig butts out the window of their cars as they are

driving. Just put it in your own ashtray--don't make the roads your ashtray.

[devilgrrl]

10. I chew people out who do that.

I told some woman that I was unaware that the planet earth was her ashtray.

[XOKCowboy]

68. As a motorcycle rider

it's not uncommon to dodge cigarette butts from cars. With leathers and a helmet it's not a big deal but it does piss ya off.

[diane in sf]

113. Yeah, out here in the arid west flipping your butt can start one hell of a fire

[usaftmo]

114. My sister does that and here's the excuse I got

"if I use the ashtray in my car it makes my car stink"
:eyes: :crazy: :eyes:

[madinmaryland]

6. I'm always amused by the occasional story about the smoker

who throws his cigarette butt out the window, and it blows back in catching the car on fire.

:rofl:

[devilgrrl]

11. See what happens????

Serves them right!

[skylarmae]

7. yup, fines! and for spitting too.....Cig butts and spitting

they get my vote for some kind of action....

[AZBlue]

70. I almost think I'd rather see cig butts than someone spitting.

It's just a slight difference, but I'm disgusted by cig butts and nauseated by spitting.

[seabeyond]

9. i am not nearly as offended by a cig butt as i am with a big bag of fast food

trash going out the window. ANYONE litering should be subjected to that "max" fine.

[WI_DEM]

14. both are pretty intolerable.

[seabeyond]

16. yes. it is called litering. and i am opposed. n/t

[elf]

13. I carry since a long time this one...................

never tosses them on the floor!!!!

[gateley]

80. I can't read the website for these - could you tell me? I'm thinking Christmas gifts. Thanks.

[Heywood J]

108. Shenzen Wholesale, from China

http://www.sz-wholesale.com/shenzhen_China_products/Ashtray_1.htm

[troubleinwinter]

17. I carry a small jar 1/4 filled with baking soda in my purse.

Just stuff em out in the soda, put cap on and empty at home.

[kestrel91316]

19. Years ago in CO up in the foothills I watched the driver of the car

in front of me throw a cigarette butt out his window. It went into the dry brush at the side of the road and within two minutes the entire hillside was aflame. I told the cops about it and what the car looked like, but couldn't see his license plate.

I stopped to try to put it out before it got big, but the wind just took it and ran. Several cars stopped. Eventually the fire crews arrived and a water-dropping helicopter, and it was pretty good-sized before it was all over.

[devilgrrl]

22. See what I mean?

Did they ever catch the jerk?

[kestrel91316]

40. nope

[devilgrrl]

43. too bad.

What a ass! :nuke:

[SeattleGirl]

24. Good god.

If you are caught throwing a butt out the window around here, you get fined over $1100, and that's just if no damage is caused.

People who throw their lit butts out the windows of their cars, or, if they are standing outside, into brush or sawdust or bark-o-mulch or whatever, should get their asses fined big time, at the very least.

[ChickMagic]

44. Back in the 50's

we had an old '51 Ford Tank without air conditioning. Made in Texas by Texans
it said. Mom and dad used to throw trash out the windows willy nilly. When
mom threw a banana peel she would announce, "That's for the animals." Once
Texas started a littering campaign, they stopped doing that. It's a shame that
it took that to make them stop.

[Javaman]

21. I have extra if anyone wants some!

:popcorn:

no doubt this will morph into a cig smoker non-cig smoker thread very soon.

[devilgrrl]

23. Use the ashtray you slob!

:popcorn:

[Javaman]

32. That's mr. slob to you...

pass the salt will you?

[devilgrrl]

39. Sure...

[Javaman]

57. Thanks...

how about a beer? :toast:

[devilgrrl]

74. Sure, thanks.

:beer:

:smoke:

[CRF450]

33. My Aunt smokes and doesn't use the ashtray in her almost new car.

But thank god she's nice enough to use one of those cups made for dumping cigg butts in!

[CRF450]

25. Someone in front of me on the road tossed a butt out and it somehow got in my car

And it burned a hole in the leather of my back seat:grr: :grr:

[devilgrrl]

28. I'm sorry...

that really blows. :-(

[CRF450]

49. Yes, when I'm trying to keep my Trans Am looking imaculate and clean

Some asshole out their just has to fuck it up. Thats makes me wanna go into asshole mode myself and fuck up their clean looking SUV with those stupid 26" rims:nuke:

[GrpCaptMandrake]

26. Agreed

And while we're on it, I reserve the right to rat-slap people who put chewing gum in ashtrays. It's not a gum-tray, cud-chompers, it's an ASHtray!

The chickle-chompers are making it difficult for those of us who try to use ashtrays to be as considerate as we can under the circumstances.

[BuyingThyme]

27. I remember from my childhood,

supermarket floors used to be littered with them. Yes, you used to be allowed to smoke in supermarkets. They would pay a guy or gal to go up and down the aisles all day, dry mopping all the butts away.

[devilgrrl]

30. To be honest with you, I think that's one of the main reasons for bans...

the friggin' butts.

[silverlib]

69. Ashtrays at the end of each aisle

in my hometown. Gee, these memories make me feel very old.

[Liberal_in_LA]

71. You young-uns won't believe this but movie theaters were thick with smoke.

[Coexist]

93. hell, so were airplanes and everywhere I worked!

[Liberal_in_LA]

115. Yep. I sat in a smoke cloud at work. Meetings were conducted thru a smoky haze. Hard to believe....

[iamthebandfanman]

29. hear hear!

i was hiking through a national park a couple months ago and came upon a PILE of butts and the container they were in RIGHT on the trail!

i picked them up and took them to the nearest trashcan(which luckily was only a half mile away, i had just started the trail)


but what do u expect from people ? they dont care about anything, especially nature.

[devilgrrl]

35. I pack rubber gloves when we go camping...

to pick up butts, bottle caps, and other trash.... it's amazing what slobs human beings can be.

[alphafemale]

90. Posted wrong spot, sorry.

[RamboLiberal]

34. How about the jerks who think a beach is a giant ashtray

Gawd I hate that. Being inland I'm not on a beach much anymore but when I travelled to a beach as a kid and then young adult I found that so repulsive. One reason I cheer beaches who ban smoking.

And I don't see much of this any more but have in the past - the jerk who empties their car ashtray at the side of the road.

In my area we also have the spitters who have to open their door at a traffic light to spit their tobacco. Ewwwww!

Laughed at a story a couple of months ago about a Darwin candidate who fell out of his car and either died or was critically injured when doing this.

[devilgrrl]

41. They've banned smoking on So. Cal. beaches for that very reason...

it only takes one jerk.

Also, people who toss their gum are jerks too.

[greguganus]

36. "smoking threat" lol Freudian slip? n/t

nt

[devilgrrl]

38. Nope, just a typo the spell checker missed.

:hi:

[applegrove]

42. I agree. And I am one of them at times when I see no ashtray.

[devilgrrl]

45. Punk.

eom

[tech3149]

46. Unfortunately, I agree with you

I have been considerate on the issue since working on a military base 20 years ago. I've been rolling my own for the last few years and "field strip" my butts to leave no mess behind. It's simply a matter of viewpoint, people who do this simply can't see beyond their own skin. What pisses me off even more are people who dump their ashtrays in a parking lot or stopped at a traffic light.

[Lebam in LA]

47. I Couldn't Agree More

I also smoke and I go ballistic whenever I see anyone throw a cigarette out the car window. On Monday with fires surrounding us I saw 2 people just toss them out their car window. What is wrong with these people?:mad: :grr:

[Evoman]

51. YES!

My apartment building is non-smoking. I.e. nobody can smoke, not even in their own apartment. So these fucking knuckledraggers smoke outside and then just drop their butts by the sidewalk. It was so fucking disgusting that I put a heavy metal pail outside that said "Cig butts here please".

THERE WERE STILL MORE FUCKING BUTTS ON THE GROUND THEN THE PAIL. And then somebody stole my pail.

FUCK!

[alcibiades_mystery]

53. Gahahahaha

:rofl:

Wait a second. That's wrong.

But....

:rofl:

[devilgrrl]

54. I want a ban at my office building...

there's 800 ashtrays around the building and idiots still throw their butts on the ground. :eyes:

[DS1]

88. Yep, there are some lazy fuckers out there

[tandot]

52. Should a cigarette butt cause a fire that kills people, they can extract DNA from it

Accused killer, arsonist must stand trial

RIVERSIDE -- A Beaumont auto mechanic must stand trial for the murders of five firefighters who were killed while protecting a home during a massive blaze last year that started in the hills south of Banning.

<snip>

Evidence presented to the judge Tuesday came in the form of items found that investigators say connect Oyler to arson, testimony on Oyler's DNA on cigarette butts from two of the arson scenes -- but not the deadly Esperanza blaze -- and potentially damaging testimony from Oyler's fiancee, sister and a second cousin.

more here:

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/03/21/news/californian/4_01_053_20_07.txt


-----

a BIG THANKS to all of the smokers who don't throw their butts out of the window or on the ground.

:yourock:

[hiphopnation]

55. FINALLY!

an anti-smoking thread that I can agree with. this is coming from a part-time smoker, and the anit-smoking threads bug the crap out of me around here. i can get down with banning them in restaurants and other obvious indoor places where it shouldn't be allowed. hell I can understand some outdoor public places. but banning smoking in the home, that's just fuckin' out of control. i should be able to kill myself however i want in the privacy of my home and even in some designated outdoor areas.

HOWEVER, I totally agree that smokers who flick cigarettes all over gods green earth and can't just extinguish it on the bottom of your shoe and throw it in a trash can -- well, there's just no excuse for it any more. You know how long those filters last? it's lazy! sheesh, get a clue.

[Scout]

56. thank you! i HATE seeing ciggie butts all over the ground...

even when i was a smoker, i did not throw the butts on the ground or out the car window except maybe 5 times in several years. No excuse for those 5 times, i was being lazy, and learned the hard way not to throw the butt out the car window as it might blow back in and go down your back and burn your good raincoat and the car seat....

especially disgusting when hiking in national parks or other nature areas to see cig butts on the ground.


fucking rude assholes!

[Beerboy]

58. People who need to dispose of cig butts are serious assholes.

They're leeching and stealing medical resources away from America's kids! It will be a happy day indeed when we can pull up to a bar and start tazering all the drunk smokers.:D

[spacelady]

63. Half-empty beer cans make great ashtrays!

}(

[NNN0LHI]

59. Up to a ten thousand dollar fine in Indiana for throwing a butt out of the car window now

Mine go into the ashtray.

Don

[americanstranger]

62. I have sort of a ritual for disposing of butts.

If I'm outside, I'll 'field-strip' the paper and tobacco (the parts that are bio-degradable) and carefully stamp them out.

The butt goes in my pocket until I can toss it away. I do this because my wife does not like leaving butts on the ground, and it's rubbed off. :)

- as

[Bonobo]

64. I fucking hate when people leave them in the beach sand!!!!!!

[Eurobabe]

86. i just saw your post, I totally agree...

it's so selfhish and disgusting. then the ducks think the filters are food!

[quiet.american]

106. YES -- I love South Beach but the sand is a massive ashtray! YUCK. n/t

[devilgrrl]

109. Time to ban smoking on South Beach's beaches

Yuck is right!

[quiet.american]

112. I'd have to second that -- or create a smoking section. n/t

[Gregorian]

67. Oh you should see what I've seen.

I posted this before seeing the post on burning cigarette butts. That's pretty lousy. But anyways...




I just left a redneck town in Oregon where I moved to two years ago, and immediately made a u-turn and came back to California.

There, they had the sides of the road where I lived just strewn with twelve pack cases, coffee cups, entire McDonald's meals packaging. And I even ran into a guy totally unloading his pickup truck full of garbage right onto the road. Then there were the hunters. Elk carcasses and dead deer skeletons on the sides of the road.

Now I'm in what one could consider a progressive area. And the garbage is essentially nonexistent. But just yesterday I ran into someone's litter down the street. A barbeque. A huge television set. The mechanism for a dump truck. And something else I don't recall. And then there is the "shooting range". It's an area by the side of the road where the remaining rednecks who live here (pardon my bigotry) bring their targets and essentially shred them with bullets. The targets are usually old tv's.

But you know what really irks me? And you wouldn't know it unless you weren't driving a car. Get out of your car and just do the responsible thing- ride a bike. And you'll discover exhaust. Isn't that kind of like litter, or refuse? It's worse.

[devilgrrl]

72. The exhaust fumes in Los Angeles are something else.

I mentioned in another thread that I would be eating at a outside restaurant and then some vehicle would come by spewing exhaust. This has happened on several occasions...

If you were ever to drive the 405 north or south during rush hour - you'd think you were going to pass out because the exhaust fumes are THAT overwhelming.

It's incredible!

And frightening.

Anyone else in LA ever think that they'd pass out because of exhaust fumes? Or is it just me?

p.s. Don't throw you're butts on the ground.

[kwyjibo]

73. A lot of people are under the impression that they're biodegradable.

The filter looks like cotton, but in most cases it's plastic.

[Beerboy]

76. How about could we Tazer them, then fine them?

Cigarette smokers are filthy scum, the Enemy. It goes w/o saying dumbasses throwing butts out windows just might as well be shot in the fucking head on sight.
It's kind of grim and loud and bloody; a Taser would be much better.

[Swamp Rat]

78. You so funny

[Swamp Rat]

77. No shit!

I went on a nature walk in the swamp, on a wooden walkway over marsh water, and what did I see at the very end?: a bunch of cigarette butts thrown onto plants and in the water. :mad: :mad: :mad:

[Beerboy]

79. You better not be smokin'. Tobacco cigarettes.

n/t.

[BelgianMadCow]

81. My butt isn't cigarette - more fat short cigar...

:shrug:

[SmokingJacket]

83. I think some smokers -- not all -- feel pissed off at a society

that has rejected them, and littering is a way of further thumbing their nose.

Just a theory! I see empty cigarette packs as well as butts along the sidewalk, much more than I ever used to.

[Kajsa]

92. Not this smoker.

I hate litter, it's so damn ugly.

I always dispose of ciggs and litter in trash containers
and pick up trash on the beach to dispose of when I leave.

Especially heinous are plastic bags and six pack rings that
can seriously harm marine animals.

Edit- I always cut up the rings to open them up before disposing
them in the trash. Birds get their necks in those damn things.

Seagulls like to scavenge the trash dump sites for food.

[Eurobabe]

85. The worst is at the beach, the smokers that think the sand is a giant ashtray

it makes me fucking sick when I see butts in the water or along the beach. People butts are OK, but I don't want to see any of those damn filters!!

:nuke: Lazy dipshits :nuke:

[mainegreen]

87. People who can't properly dispose of anything, butts or otherwise, are serious assholes.

[TalkingDog]

89. Wouldn't that make them "BUTT-HOLES"? *snrk*

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Yeah, that's one of my big pet peeves too.

Luckily NC has a Swat-a-Litterbug program. If you see someone litter out of a car, you turn them in, like any good snitch would do.

Throwing a ciggy-butt out the window is a sure "fire" way to get me to send your info into the gub'ment.

They only get a warning, but hopefully it will draw their attention to the behavior.

Especially with the dry weather that is seemingly everywhere. A smoldering cigarette butt can destroy many, many lives.


My Favorite Master Artist: Karen Parker GhostWoman Studios

[Kajsa]

91. I agree,devilgrrl.

I saw one butthead throw a lit cigarette out his car window
Monday morning on the way to work.

Yep, that's the day the winds were howling at 40-50 mph and above,
and the fires were raging around and in OC.

I took down his license plate number and reported it to the PD.

What an idiot!

[alphafemale]

95. And how about the folks that empty an entire ashtray in a parking lot?

It's like the Marlboro Man took a dump on the pavement.

[NaturalHigh]

96. I'm a smoker, and I agree with you.

At home, I smoke on my back patio and put the butts in one of those "smokeless ashtray" things. Anywhere else, I always make sure to douse the butt with some sort of liquid before disposing of it. It always pisses me off to see people throw lit cigarettes on the ground with no thought of the possibility that they might catch something on fire.

[SidDithers]

97. K&R...I agree completely...

It is estimated that several trillion cigarette butts are littered worldwide every year. That's billions of cigarettes flicked, one at a time, on our sidewalks, beaches, nature trails, gardens, and other public places every single day. In fact, cigarettes are the most littered item in America and the world. Cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate tow, NOT COTTON, and they can take decades to degrade. Not only does cigarette litter ruin even the most picturesque setting, but the toxic residue in cigarette filters is damaging to the environment, and littered butts cause numerous fires every year, some of them fatal.

http://www.cigarettelitter.org/index.asp?PageName=Home

Sid

[raccoon]

98. Around here, people have the charming habit of emptying their car's ashtray when they're stopped at

at a light.

I think we should fine the turkeys.

[devilgrrl]

99. Wow! A non-flame smoking thread

:wow:

[redqueen]

101. It's not "can't" is it? Isn't it more like "won't"?

And therefore all the more inexcusable?

[Cetacea]

103. I do it on purpose just to engage people.

Then ask them if they consider my butt to be as important in their lives as say, heart disease and cancer, or pollution and global warming. Or the fires in socal...

Then I pick it up and dispose of it properly. I field strip it.

[TimBean]

107. Very true

I wish fines for littering, especially cigarette butts, were enforced.

[Megahurtz]

110. I Totally Agree With You On That One!!!

:grr:

Those people should be fined for littering and Trashing up the Planet because that's exactly what it is!

I remember going to the Beach only a few years ago and walking barefoot
and getting Cigarette Butts stuck between my toes!
Rude and fucking gross! :argh::puke:

[petronius]

118. I'd say people who can't properly dispose of ANY garbage are assholes

Smokers don't have a monopoly on this...