Cigarette butt plebiscite helps clean up the city
Fun ballot box lets smokers cast vote for ‘Steeltown’ or ‘Hammer’ as best nickname
AS IF WE AREN’T FACING
enough choice fatigue, what with a provincial election behind us this year and a municipal one ahead of us later, there’s another ballot Hamiltonians are being asked to vote on right now.
But this is a limited franchise thing, with only smokers eligible. And the electoral question hanging in the balance is not exactly a wedge issue, except insofar as voters are asked to register their preference by wedging their butts into one of two slots on the ballot bin.
The choice? What’s a better nickname for Hamilton? Steeltown? Or The Hammer?
We’ll tell you the results in a minute, if you can stand the suspense, but let’s back up.
Ballot bin? What’s that?
And smokers being given preferential treatment on decision-making matters? Since when?
To clarify, perhaps you’ve noticed this oddity on Kenilworth. A reader sent me a picture. A curious, distinctive-looking yellow structure, mounted on a post, with a question in replaceable magnetic letters across the top and two slots. The Ballot Bin, in front of the Holy Family Roman Catholic Church on Kenilworth, at Cannon, asking passersby which civic nickname they prefer.
When smokers walk by, the Ballot Bin is there for them to butt out in. Putting their butt in the left one represents a vote for Steeltown, in the right is a vote for The Hammer.
It’s all part of an effort to have a bit of fun and, at the same time, get smokers to stub out their cigarettes in a way that doesn’t litter up sidewalks, curbside gardens, parking lots and other public spaces
Laura Anderson, aside from being program director for Green Venture in Hamilton, is a member of the Crown Point Garden Club, which has, among its other projects, a small but attractive plot just north of the church building and in front of its recently de-paved parking lot (another Green Venture venture).
“We (members of the Crown Point Garden Club) take care of that garden and when we’d weed it, believe me, we’d pull out more butts than weeds,” says Laura.
Not any more. When I went by there were some stray butts in the garden, but by far most were in the Ballot Bin customized ashtray.
The Ballot Bin is part of the Butt Stops on Kenilworth program supported by Green Venture. Businesses along the street are being asked to consider installing ashtray structures or flower pots in which cigarette butts can be disposed of. The effort also encourages the use of portable pocket ashtrays that smokers can put their butts in rather than litter the sidewalk and street.
The Ballot Bin is well-placed, right by the garden and by the Depave Paradise eco-parking lot (made of interlocking tiles and green microfill) that now serves the church. It was converted in 2017, a joint project of Green Venture, the Crown Point Garden Club and the Holy Family Roman Catholic Church, as is the Ballot Bin itself.
The Ballot Bin was installed June 2, part of the 100 in 1 Day festival (communities are asked to do 100 things for the environment in one day), also the first anniversary of the eco-parking lot.
The idea for the bin came to Laura and her two garden cleanup partners, Fran Frazier and Anne Vallentin, as they thought of ways to tackle challenges to the garden.
“We were wading in on what to do and we Googled this,” says Laura.
Making their own bin would’ve been prohibitively expensive.
“It’s not very environmental but we imported it.”
The Ballot Bin is a popular British service/website (also used by the Keep America Beautiful campaign in the United States) to reduce cigarette butt litter. Choices are presented — British examples have included “Who will win Saturday’s local derby? Tottenham. Arsenal.” — and smokers vote with their butts.
“We were thinking of vote questions,” says Laura. “Like: ‘Is chocolate ice cream better than vanilla?’ But we wanted something local.”
So far, The Hammer is outpacing Steeltown by a rate of about two to one. The smokers have spoken.
The idea for the bin came to Laura and her two garden cleanup partners, Fran Frazier and Anne Vallentin, as they thought of ways to tackle challenges to the garden.