Cigarette canisters have appeared on campus in a hope to reduce the amount of cigarette butts on the ground.
The new slim yellow canisters are all around the Campus Center, and Bakersfield College students have mixed feelings about them.
“I really haven’t noticed them much. I smoke a lot, but I usually chuck my butts in the big trash can after stepping on them,” said Antonio Salver, a BC student.
Sarah Philipp, another BC student, said, “I actually like them a lot. It makes it easy to just chuck them without having to look around for a place.”
The bins were put in by BC Maintenance and Operations in hopes of eventually making BC a cigarette-free campus.
“The new bins were put in place to eliminate odor and to clean up the Campus Center,” said Jimmy “Smitty” Smith from Maintenance and Operations. “Soon we will have a smoke free campus, but this is the first step toward change.”
“I find it completely gross especially when you’re sitting outside trying to eat,” BC student Elizabeth Sanders said of cigarette butts.
But Nathan McVeigh, another BC student, said, “I personally don’t care about the butts. I’m a smoker myself. I never throw them on the ground, though.”
Other groups in Kern County are working on cleaning up cigarette butts, too.
In an effort to raise community awareness about cigarette butt littering, the Kern County Department of Public Health Tobacco Education Program, and the Tobacco Free Coalition of Kern County teamed up with a group of high school students to pick up discarded cigarette butts around town.
The volunteers went to selected Kern County buildings and local parks with playgrounds. The results showed 3,703 cigarette butts were collected in a two-day period.
“Cigarette butts are hazardous. Young children can pick up the cigarette butts and put them in their mouths,” said Claudia Jonah, Kern County public health officer.
Cigarette butts are one of the 10 most littered items around the world. They don’t break down easily and cause pollution in the earth and water for many years.
“I frankly find it disgusting whenever I take my child to a park. I’m always picking up the butts so my little boy doesn’t find them,” said Rhonda Phillips, local resident.
State law prohibits smoking 25 feet from any playground or toddler areas. Also there is no smoking 20 feet from any main building entrances and exits, and all cigarettes must be disposed properly. There is a fine if caught throwing cigarettes from your car, ranging up to $200.