Dublin City Council have begun a campaign to distribute 20,000 free ashtrays to smokers in a bid to curb cigarette littering on the city's streets.
The "Butts Out" campaign was officially unveiled this morning by the city's Lord Mayor, Mr Royston Brady, who called on smokers in Dublin to "act responsibly".
"Cigarette butts are litter and it is simply unacceptable to throw them on the ground," he said.
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The new pocket-sized ashtray
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Smokers discarding a cigarette butt on the city's streets face a €125 litter fine under the Litter Pollution Act, which can be raised to €1,900 if the offender is successfully prosecuted.
A number of prosecutions are under way, the City Council confirmed this morning.
The portable ashtrays will be sold in retail outlets and newsagents throughout the city, as well as through Dublin City Council's website. The recommended retail price is €2.
Over the next fortnight, 20,000 of the ashtrays, which hold up to six butts apiece, will be handed out free to Dublin smokers. The lightweight containers are designed to be clipped to a belt or carried in a handbag, and are made of the same material as car ashtrays.
The campaign is inspired by a similar initiative in Britain and Australia.
Four million cigarettes are consumed each day by Dublin's 280,000 smokers, and the City Council claims that 32 per cent of litter in the capital is cigarette-related.