Smokers binning their butts on Exmouth seafront are being challenged to solve the age-old debate – jam or cream first?
A new cigarette ballot bin, now on the wall by the Harbour View Café, aims to reduce litter on the seafront and the beach and is posing a question to smokers that has waged a war between Devon and Cornwall for decades.
The fun poll currently calls for smokers to vote on the great cream tea debate, posting the used cigarette butt into whichever side they believe goes onto the scone first – jam or cream.
The new ballot bin is the fourth of its type in the town. The others can be found at Exmouth Railway Club, in Royal Avenue, and seafront venues Exmouth Pavilion, and The Bath House.
The bins were brought to the town after community litter picks and beach cleans revealed cigarette butts were the most common waste collected by volunteers.
The latest ballot bin installation was a joint effort between the town council, Plastic Free Exmouth and Harbour View Café, which is also involved in the town’s reusable cups project.
It aims to promote the ongoing Get Your Butts Off the Beach campaign, calling on smokers to dispose fag ends responsibly.
Jill Gathercole, of Plastic Free Exmouth, said: “Since forming in 2019, our group has led hundreds of beach cleans and litter picks across Exmouth.
“Cigarette butts and smoking-related litter are the most commonly found items – especially on our beautiful beach.”
She said cigarette butts made up 66 per cent of all littered items in the UK, according to Keep Britain Tidy, and was a major environmental concern, adding an estimated three million cigarette butts were dropped daily in the UK.
Jill said: “They’re made of plastic, don’t biodegrade, and break down into microplastics that pollute land and water.”
Councillor Dianne Conduit, deputy mayor, said the town was ‘proud’ to be playing its part in saving the environment from cigarette butts.
She said: “Whether it’s cats versus dogs, or jam versus cream, a light-hearted question gets people thinking and nudges them to engage positively.”
