What About Bermuda?

Some years ago I had the pleasure of visiting Bermuda. You may be acquainted with the island's reputation for cleanliness. It is well deserved. They take their environment very seriously. They have to. It is all they have to sell.

There was no litter at all on the sidewalks or streets. The fine for littering was $500. If you threw litter out of a moving car, the fine was $1000. If you were driving the car, the fine was $2000. The laws were strict, and they were enforced. I was there three days before I saw a crumpled soda can underneath a roadside bush. I flicked out my cigarettes and put the butts in my pocket, not out of fear of the law, but out of respect.

Today I read the headline, "Cost of Cigarette Litter May Fall on San Francisco's Smokers." The article said, "The proposal, to be introduced next month to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, would add 33 cents to the cost of a pack of cigarettes, to offset the estimated $10.7 million the city spends annually removing discarded butts from gutters, drainpipes and sidewalks." I visualized San Francisco as one huge ashtray, bristling with stinky butts, overdue to be emptied.

I must not be the only one who visualized this. One reader's comment said, "Go to your local 24-hour grocery store in the wee hours when they're sweeping the parking lot: mostly cigarette butts. People even dump their car ashtrays on the lot. This sweeper is paid (given statistics) mostly by nonsmoking customers. Smokers will also stand next to a building's outdoor ashtray and dump a butt on the sidewalk." Egad! Now that's filthy! This author referred to Lincoln, Nebraska. Evidently Lincoln, too, has an extreme litter problem.

Another reader, one who actually lives in San Francisco, wrote, "…authorities should consider a $1000 littering fine…" This would address not only cigarette butts, but burger wrappers, fry boxes, paper napkins and cups as well. To me, this made sense.

If the city government wants to penalize cigarette smokers, it should do so without the pretext that it will deter littering. Impose a $10 per pack tax and be done with it. If the goal, on the other hand, is to discourage littering, it should enact Bermuda-style littering laws, and enforce them. It works.

Say what you mean, and mean what you say.