Cigarette butts in valley a concern

1,370 butts recovered during coulee cleanup

Lethbridge smokers need to butt out of the river valley when it comes to tossing their cigarette butts on the ground. This year to date, cleanup efforts in the river valley have resulted in 1,370 cigarette butts being recovered and documented by the Helen Schuler Nature Centre Shoreline Cleanup program.

Since 2014, volunteers have pulled 4,776 cigarette butts from the same area.

While many of those butts may come from urban littering throughout the city, Curtis Goodman, resource development co-ordinator for the nature centre, said people in the river valley who throw their burning cigarette butts away when they are finished with them are creating a substantial and serious fire hazard to the area.

“At this time of year, and especially in 2017, we have very dry conditions,” he said. “It really is a tinderbox out there along the shore’s edge.

“It’s prime conditions to have a grass fire, or even a forest fire down there.”

Goodman said there is a concentration of cigarette butts located on trails or near places where people spend time enjoying the view.

“If we were to go hang out under the High Level Bridge, which is a popular hangout spot for some people, I would be willing to bet we could find 100 cigarette butts today.”

Cigarettes thrown on the street or emptied from ashtrays into the gutter will eventually make their way into the river. There is no filtration that takes place for runoff.

“Anything that ends up in the storm drain system pretty much ends up in the river valley,” said Goodman. “There’s no second chance for that garbage to get weeded out. It literally dumps right next to the river.”

Goodman said he hopes people will recognize the link between the urban environment and the natural one that exists in the city.

According to the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, cigarette butts continue to be the number one most common litter item found on Canadian shorelines. Volunteers across Canada picked up 445,915 cigarette butts in 2016.

In terms of quantity collected for the Lethbridge area, last year, about 40 per cent of the garbage collected was cigarette butts. This year, that number jumped to 53 per cent.

“It’s problematic when you think about the fire hazard alone,” Goodman said.

“This is something on people’s minds, and it makes me furious when I think about the potential for losing lives, or trees, or houses, you name it. The conditions are primed for a disaster.”

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