Fine for smoker who threw cigarette butt at Whittlesford Service Station

A smoker who was spotted throwing a cigarette butt to the ground at Whittlesford Service Station has been fined £400.

South Cambridgeshire District Council are urging people not to litter after the smoker was seen by a council officer discarding their smoked cigarette end on the floor.

The person was standing beside their car after coming out of the services. 

The offender was given the opportunity to pay a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) for £400 rather than attend court for the offence.

Cllr Natalie Warren Green, Lead Cabinet Member for Environmental Services and Waste for South Cambridgeshire District Council, said: “Cigarette butts might be small, but their impact is huge. They pollute our streets, harm wildlife, and make our district look uncared for. Tossing cigarette butts on the ground is like saying you don't care about our community, and in this case, at a service station, it presented a clear fire hazard too. As a Council we are sending a clear message to respect our shared spaces and dispose of waste properly.”

Figures from Keep Britain Tidy show cigarette butts make up more than two thirds of all littered items, with nearly 3 million cigarette ends being litter in the UK every day.

This creates a big issue as cigarette butts are made of plastic and do not biodegrade. They can contain chemicals including formaldehyde, nicotine, arsenic, lead, copper, chromium, cadmium, and a variety of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).  Over time, cigarette butts break apart into microplastics and seep toxins into the earth and our waterways.

Government figures show that smoking-related litter costs UK local authorities approximately £40 million per year to deal with.