Cigarette litter hotline gets a makeover - SignOnSanDiego.com

LOVE IT....it's about time for this. 

I would love it even further when this expands to help report belligerent motorist, especially those who endanger the lives of cyclists.

Cigarette litter hotline gets a makeover - SignOnSanDiego.com

Cigarette litter hotline gets a makeover

By Mike Lee, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Friday, January 22, 2010 at 12:04 a.m.
Cigarette butts are the most-littered item in the world, particularly on beaches.

/ Nancee E. Lewis / U-T 2006 file photo

Cigarette butts are the most-littered item in the world, particularly on beaches.
CIGARETTE LITTER LINE

To report someone tossing a cigarette butt from a vehicle, leave an anonymous message at (877)-211-BUTT.

An anti-littering campaign that nearly flickered out two years ago has been revived with a makeover that allows for better tracking of motorists who toss cigarettes out of their cars.

The Cigarette Litter Hotline also has expanded from San Diego County to Orange, Riverside and Imperial counties.

“Once established, this really is a model that can be rolled out regionally, statewide and even in other states,” said Ken David, a spokesman for the local chapter of the nonprofit Surfrider Foundation, which operates the program with volunteers.

The group took over the hotline in July 2008 after county officials discontinued it, said local Surfrider chairman Manase Mansur.

Cigarette butts are regarded as the most-littered item in the world and are found on beaches by the hundreds of thousands nationwide. During rainstorms like those that battered the region this week, they are swept by storm drains to the ocean, where they harm sea life. They also can cause fires if they are tossed into dry brush.

Surfrider announced its upgrades yesterday. The improvements allow the California Highway Patrol to more easily send warning letters to people who have been anonymously reported to a toll-free number. The system relies on residents spotting “litterbutts” and calling in a license plate number along with the time and place of the incident.

The new electronic reporting program developed by Surfrider replaces the time-consuming process of tracking calls with paper records and handing them to the CHP, which then issued the warnings.

“We’ll be able to have more accurate information and send out more letters than we were able to before,” said CHP officer Mary Bailey in San Diego.

CHP doesn’t issue citations to people who are reported on the hotline, but officers do hand out tickets if they see people flicking butts from cars or trucks. Penalties can include a fine up to $1,000 and eight hours of community service picking up litter. Tossed cigarettes that cause fires may lead to felony charges.

“We need the eyes of the public to identify smokers that are endangering public safety by tossing lit cigarettes from vehicles,” said Chief Gary Dominguez of CHP’s Southern California division.

The hotline started in 2004 as a cooperative effort between county health officials, the local chapter of the American Lung Association and others. It averaged about 1,100 calls a month for at least three years, in part because concerned motorists programmed the old phone number into their cell phones to make reporting easier.

“People are very passionate about this,” said Debra Kelley, a top official at the lung association office in San Diego. “I think it’s the whole concept of careless, irresponsible smokers … who think the world is their ashtray. It’s just an affront.”

The hot line closed in mid-2008. Surfrider adopted the program and quickly opened up a new line.

“Once it became apparent that there were no more government funds, our Surfrider executive committee said this is just too important of an issue and too important of a tool to let it drop,” Mansur said.

He said the county had been spending about $50,000 a year on the program but he expects Surfrider can run it for about half that cost using volunteers and the new reporting system.

The number of calls dwindled to about 700 recently while Surfrider slowed its advertising and upgraded the system. Mansur expects calls will increase now that the program is back in the public eye, and he’s looking at installing a voice transcription system that will speed processing.

Kelley thanked Surfrider for taking over the program. “We were one of the parents of the baby and we gave it up for adoption,” she said. “It’s in a happy home now.”