Cigarette butts solution? Hit ’em in the pocketbook

I read with interest the article about Keep Manatee Beautiful’s efforts to free the county of discarded cigarette butts. I don’t think this is the correct strategy. The way to clean up butts is to hit smokers where it hurts the most: in the pocketbook.

Increase the price of a pack of cigarettes by $20. When the smokers return the 20 butts in the original package, he/she then will receive $20 off his next pack — or if they quit and doesn’t want another pack, they can redeem the $20. Yes, I know, people with lower incomes won’t be able to afford their first pack with the $20 increase. They may have to quit smoking. And this is a bad thing? This way it will keep butts off the streets in the future.

But what about a clean-up of all the stray butts everywhere now? OK, if you bring discarded butts in a plastic bag to a cigarette retailer, you get 25 cents each. Now watch the unemployed and kids turn in those butts by the boatload. Yes, I know the cigarette retailers will cry like babies about the extra efforts they will need to put in. But they have the option to stop selling cigarettes like CVS did about a year ago.

I know there will be loopholes and problems controlling all this because the program would only operational in Manatee County. Unscrupulous people will try to bring in butts from other counties. Perhaps some other people smarter than me can figure how to make this plan foolproof.

There will be a cost to the county for the rogue butts brought in for the 25-cent reward. But to me this would be cost-effective if you really want to clean up Manatee County of discarded cigarette butts.

This story was originally published July 20, 2017 at 4:10 PM with the headline "Cigarette butts solution? Hit ’em in the pocketbook."