Cape Town hands out 'pocket' ashtrays

Cape Town hands out 'pocket' ashtrays

The Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID) is distributing reusable ‘pocket’ ashtrays to smokers as part of its anti-litter programme. ‘The CCID has been distributing the pouches for the past five years and it has been a successful way of reducing cigarette butt waste. We also often get requests for these pouches from companies and members of the public,’ said Sharon Sorour-Morris, communications manager at CCID. More than 300kg of cigarette butts are collected from the City’s cigarette bins every month. CCID manager for urban management Richard Beesley said a large number still ended up on the ground. Lorren de Kock, project manager of circular plastics economy with WWF SA, said: ‘Cigarette butts are among the top 10 most prevalent plastic waste items found on beaches and streets of SA.’