Brampton, ON, Oct 2, 2019 –
At the September 26th Region of Peel Council Meeting, Regional Councillor Gurpreet Singh Dhillon moved a motion to direct staff to investigate and find solutions to combat cigarette litter in the Peel Region.
Globally, 4.95 trillion cigarette butts are littered per annum, and are made of “cellulose acetate”, which is a non-biodegradable plastic and takes 25 years to break down. Cigarette butts are currently categorized as toxic waste and the most abundant form of anthropogenic (originating in human activity) litter on the planet
“Cigarette butt litter can cause real damage to our environment, including plant life and wildlife,” said Councillor Dhillon. “As Brampton and the Peel Region move towards becoming ‘green’ communities, litter continues to be a major problem and we must look into taking steps to address this growing concern”.
The report, which is due in early 2020, will look at educational pieces, solutions, fines, and potential partnerships with companies to recycle cigarette butts into plastics for items such as furniture and skids.
Recently, The Region of Peel updated their corporate ‘Smoking In The Workplace policy in 2017 to provide 100% smoke-free grounds at Regional facilities. However, due to a direct response to complaints about cigarette litter, receptacles were installed in 2018 at 10 Peel Centre Drive and 7120 Hurontario Street.
Eventually these receptacles will be removed to encourage completely smoke-free facilities.
