Voting with their butts

A borough council in Northern Ireland is trialing ‘ballot bins’ in an effort to reduce cigarette litter across the borough, according to a story by Duncan Elder for the Portadown Times.

Ballot bins, which have been used in other places in a number of guises, are customizable ashtray bins that encourage people to use them by providing smokers with the opportunity to vote on various issues.

The bins display questions about, say, favourite films or music, and users can vote for their preferred answer by putting their butts into one of the two containers.

A window in the bins displays which choice is winning.

The bins, part of Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council’s Clean Neighbourhoods Action Plan, are designed to encourage people to put their cigarette butts in a bin rather than stubbing them out on the pavement.

Three such bins are being trialed within the town centres of Armagh, Banbridge and Lurgan in an effort to counter what is described in the story as the scourge of cigarette butts littering pavements.

The installation of more bins in targeted areas across the borough is planned for the New Year.

In the past the council has tried various measures aimed at reducing cigarette litter, including the imposition of big fines.