Causeway Coast & Glens Council are getting saucey when it comes to keeping the borough clean and changing cigarette littering behaviour.
Their new, purpose-built, ballot box-style bins are challenging smokers to think outside the box when disposing of their cigarettes.
Smokers are asked to use their finished butts to ‘vote’ for an answer to a ‘thought-provoking’ question, with the Ballymoney bin currently asking ‘Best sauce for a fry? Red Sauce or Brown Sauce’.
A council social media post said: ‘We are working with Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful to provide a fun way to cut cigarette butt litter in the borough.
‘The dedicated bins in Ballycastle, Coleraine, Portrush and Ballymoney display a quirky question and smokers can vote by putting their cigarette butt in the slot underneath their chosen answer.
‘Created by Hubbub, the bins have been shown to significantly reduce cigarette butt litter.’
A spokesperson for Ballot bin said:
“Studies show that proposals to decrease cigarette butt pollution have been largely ineffective, with cigarette butts consistently being the single most collected item in beach clean-ups and litter surveys.
“Smokers find the Ballot Bins much more engaging than alternative ashtrays and are more likely to use them. Independent evaluation shows the Ballot Bin reduces cigarette butt litter by 46%.”
A spokesperson for Causeway Coast and Glens Councilconfirmed the bins had been supplied by Keep NI Beautiful and that a different question has been inserted in each ballot bin. However, they added there was ‘no set timescale for emptying’ the bins.