Smokers across London are being given free pouches to store their stubs in - to help stamp out a major health hazard.
Still-burning fags ignite around a third of all outdoor fires each year and helped cause the Bradford City Football stadium and Kings Cross disasters. By giving out fifteen thousand heat resistant pouches (which can hold up to five dog ends), councils are not only confident they'll cut down on blazes - they'll also reduce London's massive litter problem.
‘Butts, boxes and matches are found on 94 per cent of London's streets, with a staggering 122 tonnes of cigarette litter dropped every day in the UK' said Alan Cook, Chair of Capital Standards - a partnership of councils committed to cleaning-up London. 'And with smoking banned in offices and other buildings, it's a problem that is going to get even worse.
That's why this innovation is so important and we reckon that once it cottons on, the Stubbi will be the 'must have' accessory for all smokers.'
Designed by London based company Stubbi & Co. Ltd, the two inch square wallets will be handed out at a series of events across London. These include:
Southwark have also played their part by promoting stubbi's at their many Smoking Awareness Events across the Borough.
Adding his support, Keep Britain Tidy Director for London, Justin Jupp said: 'Cleaning up tabs is a devil of a job - as it gets trapped between paving stones, weeds, grates and gullies with cellophane packaging sticking to pavements and roads.
Perhaps because butts, boxes and matches are so small some people think they don't matter - but I can assure you they are a big problem. Certainly a still burning fag dropped into litter is a lethal cocktail and unless people start using a Stubbi we always run the risk of another potential catastrophe.'