Effects of Trash Bins, Ash Trays, and Banners on Littering of Trash and Cigarette Butts in a Public Space

Abstract
A public space at a university was the scene for this living experiment on decreasing the incidence of littering. Every morning the space was cleaned up and every evening at 6: 00 pm litter was gathered and analyzed. People who spent time in the space or passed through it were counted every ten minutes using a camera. In the first experiment, the amount of litter found for the reference period when there were no trash bins or a warning signs was compared to the observation period when trash bins were placed along with signs saying "Put trash in the trash bins." Results showed that the littering ratio of cans and bottles was below 10% during the observation period, and that the presence of signs and trash bins had an observable effect. In the second experiment, a comparison was made for the amount of cigarette waste generated in a reference period when there were no ash trays or signs in place, and an observation period when signs saying "Put cigarette butts in the ash trays" and accompanying ash trays were set up. Results showed that the littering ratio of cigarette butts was 61-67% in the observation period, and that there was little effect observed in the decrease of littered cigarette butts when signs and ash trays were in place. The tendency observed was that while smokers will put butts into an ash tray if it is placed right next to them, they do not put the butts in if the ash tray is not right there. It is necessary to study intervention methods such as awareness campaigns and appeals for getting smokers to not litter their cigarette butts, and put them in ash trays in public spaces.

Key words: public space, littered trash, littered cigarette butts, ash trays, banner