AUGUSTA — A group of Cony High School freshmen wants the city to ban tossing cigarette butts where they don’t belong.

The Cony students told city councilors Thursday they studied the environmental and health hazards of discarded cigarette butts and were so concerned they think anyone caught littering them in Augusta should be hit with a $100 fine.

They suggested Augusta consider a butt-litter ban similar to that enacted by the city of Portland.

Freshman Hannah Reis told councilors cigarette butts last 30 years, can leak toxic chemicals into the air and water, are harmful to the environment, could injure or even kill a toddler who mistakenly eats one, and can start a fire when they are tossed without being fully extinguished.

“We researched plenty about cigarette butts and found 130 million butts will be littered in Maine this year,” Reis said. “I don’t think smokers who throw it on the ground realize how much it can hurt the environment.”

Five Cony freshmen — Reis, Sierra Bowman, Zack Folsom, Cassie Clark and Kristina Brewer — studied cigarette butts as litter as part of a community service learning project.

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Once they took a look around Augusta, the students said, they found a disturbing amount of cigarette butts lining city streets, parks and other areas.

Thursday, the students had a large commercial pickle jar full of butts one of them had picked up in about an hour on Water Street. Just two days later, another student filled a small, jelly-jar-sized jar with more butts from the same street.

Councilors agreed to have City Manager William Bridgeo research Portland’s anti-butt-litter ordinance and report back to them.

Mayor William Stokes said depending on what Bridgeo finds out and how councilors react to it, the students’ suggestion could become a proposal and, if it wins approval, could be enacted into local law by the council.

“Thank you for being of service to our community,” Stokes told the students.

Stokes and Councilor Cecil Munson suggested the students come back to council meetings if and when a new ordinance banning littering with cigarette butts is proposed.

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Reis said the ordinance would help prevent cigarette butts from degrading the area, and make Augusta a more attractive place to tourists.

“I’m willing to suggest your teacher give you an A — that’s just a suggestion,” Councilor Patrick Paradis said. “This is the best civics lesson you can get. You came down, presented evidence to the people’s court, and now it’s up to us. I do a lot of walking, and I can attest not a day goes by I don’t see someone flicking a cigarette butt on the ground. They don’t want the smoke or ashes inside their vehicle, so they just flick it outside.”

In January, councilors approved a tobacco ordinance that bans smoking and all other forms of tobacco use on all city property, even outdoors. The ban applies to all city parks and athletic fields and, except for designated smoking areas, the outdoor areas surrounding all city buildings. Violators could be subject to a $50 fine.

Keith Edwards — 621-5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com


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