Cigarette ballot butt bins for Creggan Country Park

Installed in December 2022, the bins are helping the award-winning park deliver on its environmental policy and strategy. The project is funded by the Department of Agriculture Environment and Rural Affairs’ (DAERA).

Karen Healy, Environmental Officer at Creggan Country Park said, “Unfortunately cigarette litter remains widespread and its inappropriate disposal not only looks unsightly but causes environmental damage and endangers wildlife and habitats. We are keen to reduce this problem here in the park, and I believe the ballot bins will definitely help with this.”

Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful hope the roll out of the ballot bins will help reduce the problem of plastic pollution in NI. The environmental charity recently published the ‘Cleaner Neighbourhoods Report 2021, which provides details on the findings of the 2021 Northern Ireland Litter Survey. Surveying the local environmental quality of 990 individual transects (streets, roads and recreational spaces) across the 11 council areas, trained assessors found that the most abundant type of litter recorded was cigarette related, in particular cigarette butts. In 2021 65% of all transects surveyed had some form of cigarette litter present.

Chris Gourley from Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful said, “The cigarette ballot bins are a fun way to encourage smokers to dispose of their litter properly. Most people aren’t aware that the plastic cigarette butts release dangerous chemicals, such as arsenic and lead, into the environment. The bins are proving to be a useful tool in our efforts to tackle plastic waste as well as adding a bit of social engagement.”

Each ballot bins displays a question and two answers to encourage smokers to dispose of cigarette butts responsibly. Smokers vote by putting their cigarette butt in the slot underneath their chosen answer. Cigarette butts will stack up behind the clear glass front in two columns, displaying which answer is more popular. Bin creator Hubbub claims the clever incentive has proven to reduce cigarette butt litter by up 46%.

Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful has plans for more of these ballot bins throughout N. Ireland and, as part of this, encourage individuals to make a commitment to reduce pointless single-use plastic such as bottles, bags and synthetic textiles by signing a ‘Plastic Promise’.

Visit www.liveherelovehere.org/plasticpromise to find out more.