Smokers asked to butt out bad habits

EDMONTON – Smokers in Edmonton could be doing a slow burn in the next few months if they get caught tossing their cigarette butts on the street.

Bylaw officers are going to start handing out tickets to people who don’t dispose of smoking material in sidewalk ashtrays.

Don Belanger, manager of the Capital City Cleanup program, says there was a significant improvement to smokers’ behaviour when public ashtrays were introduced on Jasper Avenue.

But Belanger says a litter audit for 2012 shows there was a slight increase in the amount of cigarette butts being indiscriminately flicked away.

He says the city will use a combination of public education and enforcement this spring and summer to get the message across that there are consequences for smoking scofflaws.

Under the city’s littering bylaw, tossing a cigarette butt on the ground could mean a $250 fine.