Great stub out increases litter

The smoking ban has led to a 43% rise in cigarette butts dropped on pavements in England, a new survey shows.

The survey of 140 councils by the Keep Britain Tidy campaign also found a seven-fold increase in the amount of other smoking-related items - such as cigarette packets, films and matches - since the stub-out on 1 July.

Town and city centres have suffered the worst - 98% of these had cigarette ends present on the streets.

Overall, 83% of the councils surveyed said they had suffered an increase in smoking-related litter since the ban, and 98% said the litter was a problem.

Ginette Unsworth, senior marketing manager at Keep Britain Tidy, said: "We always knew that the smoking ban would have a negative effect on the state of our streets. The number of dropped dog ends rising is no surprise as people are concerned about the fire hazard of using a normal litterbin.​

"With England being the last country in the UK to bring the ban in it had the benefit of hindsight - it knew the problems encountered by other nations. If this had been exploited further, the level of cigarette litter may not be in such a sorry state."

Meanwhile, Keep Wales Tidy has registered a 7% rise in litter since the smoking ban began there on 2 April. In Northern Ireland, where the ban started on 30 April, the figure was 17%.

Keep Scotland Beautiful registered an immediate rise but this fell as more people used cigarette bins, according to Keep Britain Tidy.