Petition launched to install cigarette bins on Marlow High Street

In June, hundreds of chalk circles appeared on the ground around dumped cigarette butts on the high street.

This week another message has been left in chalk reading "please bin your butt" sparking a new petition to be launched.

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It was the work of the Marlow Wombles, a group of litter-pickers who are dedicated to ridding the town of rubbish, that started the original campaign “Bin the Butt”.

The Marlow Wombles launched the campaign 'Bin your Butt'

The most recent petition proposes 12 places in the town where cigarettes bins should be placed.

A statement from the petition reads: "The Marlow Wombles started a “Bin the Butt” campaign in Marlow, trying to educate our local community about the danger cigarette butts pose when dropped on the ground and encouraging people to bin them.

"They also provided local businesses with flowerpots for discarded butts and spoke with business owners and the local council about installing cigarette bins in key areas, however the problem remains.

"Although the problem was acknowledged by the council, nothing has been done to rectify the situation as the town council were worried about the look of cigarette bins around town.

"We want Marlow Town Council, our Mayor Richard Scott, Buckinghamshire County Council and Sorbon Estates to reconsider our request and to install sufficient numbers of cigarette bins along the high street and in key areas around town to reduce the number of butts dropped on the ground and into our drains.

"We believe that the bins will be less detrimental to the appearance of our town than the current number of cigarette butts dropped on the ground and will go a long way in protecting both our local wildlife as well as marine animals who are killed when these cigarette butts enter our waterways via our drains."

Lora Wilson, the petition creator, said: "I am fed up of picking up hundreds of cigarette butts.

"It is disgusting anyway, but especially during Covid to have to clean up something that has been in someone else's mouth.

"It hurts my back as often they are stuck in drains or cracks and cannot be brushed or picked up with a litter picker, and it would be so simple for smokers to be able to put them into a cigarette bin, if only they were available around town!"

Andrew Sanderson said: "Having lived in Marlow for over 50 years, we as a community need to take more personal responsibility for our actions that have an impact on other people's lives.

"Littering is a blight on our society, and anything that will enable litter of any sort to be disposed of properly is to be applauded."

The petition has over 100 signatures at the time of writing.

If you would like to view the full petition click here.