No Butts: Smoking-Related Litter - Keep Britain Tidy

Strongly
agree
Slightly
agree
Neither
/ nor
Slightly
disagree
Strongly
disagree
7. Non-Smokers
Section 7 deals with the attitudes of non-smokers towards
smoking-related litter. In order to achieve a representative
sample of non-smokers, 1,524 people were interviewed.
Of these people, seven in ten did not smoke. Women were
proportionately more likely to be non-smokers than men
(75% vs 71%) as were people from social class AB and C1
(78% and 77%) than C2 D E (70%, 67%, 67%).
Smoking Behaviour
73%
27% Yes
Of the non-smokers, the majority agreed that they did not like to see people throwing cigarette
butts on the ground or out of their car window. Those who strongly agreed were more likely to be
female (75% vs 66%), social grade AB and 35 and above. However, the majority of people had
never pointed out to a smoker that they had dropped a butt, although 10% had done so in the
past week and the same amount had done so more than a year ago. Those who had never done
it were more likely to be 65 and above. Those who’d done it in the past week were more likely to
be younger (16 – 24) social grade C2 and live in the North.
I Object to People Throwing Cigarette
Ends on the Floor / Out of a Car Window
5
5
9
11
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
% respondents
71
Q2. Agree or disagree?
Base = 1,105
No
Q1. Do you smoke cigarettes
regularly? Base = 1,524
How Recently Have You Pointed Out
to a Smoker they have Dropped their
Cigarette End?
In the
last week
In the
last month
In the
last 6 months
In the
last year
Longer
ago
Never
3
6
5
9
10
0 10 20 30 40
Q3. How Recently?
Base = 1,105
% respondents
50 60 70
67
8. Conclusions
Smokers materials are
the most littered item and
following implementation
of smokefree legislation on
1st July 2007 the problem
has become significantly
worse. The challenge is to
convince smokers not to
drop their cigarette butts
and other associated litter
but to dispose of them safely
in bins or personal ashtrays
instead. The purpose of the
research described in this
report was to devise and test
campaign messages that
would convince smokers
to change their littering
behaviour.
The results are positive in that littering
by smokers is not an inevitable act but
susceptible to influence by external factors.
Smokers are less likely to litter is someone
else is watching them, if they are in the
presence of non-smokers, or if they are in
their own home or workplace. They are more
likely to litter if a suitable bin is not available
but will not, however, go far out of their way
to find one.
While it may be possible to influence littering
by smokers there are significant barriers to
overcome in getting people to dispose of
smoking related litter correctly, especially
cigarette butts. This is because smokers
do not regard cigarette butts as being the
same as other types of litter. They incorrectly
believe that they are biodegradable and think
they are small and insignificant. In addition,
cigarette butts possess certain properties
that make them difficult to dispose of – they
pose a fire hazard – and carry to a bin – they
are unclean and odorous.
No overall consensus was reached as to
the best campaign message that could be
used. There were, however, some general
principles uncovered. It is important not to
make smokers feel more guilty than they
already do about smoking. Messages that
are patronising, insulting or antagonistic
should be avoided. As should environmental
messages that are unlikely to result in
behaviour change because they are
perceived to be too abstract and remote.
Rather it would be more effective to promote
the message that cigarette butts are litter
too and too enforce this message through
the use of appropriate visual imagery. Finally,
while the threat of being fined is a suitable
deterrent smokers did have doubts about
its practicality.
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