London councils have suffered a surge in cigarette litter on the streets since the smoking ban was introduced.
Research from Keep Britain Tidy and Capital Standards has revealed that the amount of cigarette ends blighting the nation’s streets shot up by 43% since the start of the ban.
Oliver Jones, Capital Standards Manager said: “We always knew that the smoking ban would have a negative affect on the state of our streets. But it’s surprising just how much.
“It’s vital that businesses, authorities and individuals do what they can to stop the streets being littered with butts.”
London councils were asked if they had witnessed a rise in dropped dog ends and fag packets since the ban. Of those that responded all said they noticed an increase in smoking litter. Plus 25% of the region’s councils reported a rise in the number of complaints on antisocial behaviour and 13% complaints about littered cigarette ends were also on the up.
Research also revealed a seven times national increase in the amount of other smoking paraphernalia including cigarette packets, films and matches, littered on our streets since going smoke free.
The observed levels of smoking related litter is at a higher level within London compared to the rest of the country, this means that councils need to carry out more street cleaning to keep the capital’s 18,640 miles of footpaths clear.
The worst hit areas have been town and city centres where only 2% of areas looked at did not have any cigarette ends present on the streets.
Oliver added: “Although the news isn’t good, we shouldn’t despair. By taking appropriate action such as campaigning and installing cigarette bins authorities could see a dramatic difference.”
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Capital Standards is a partnership of 28 of London’s Local Authorities along with London Councils, GLA, Government Office for London, TfL, Metropolitan Police, Environment Agency and a selection of waste contractors.
The Keep Britain Tidy campaign is run by independent charity ENCAMS which is also responsible for the Blue Flag beach awards and Eco-Schools in England. It also runs the Cleaner Safer Greener Network – a programme for large landowners such as local authorities and housing associations.
It usually takes about three hours to remove graffiti from a shop shutter, using specialised equipment.