South Australia:
If you live in South Australia and litter your butts you've probably got nothing to worry about - except maybe worrying about your littered butts starting fires that destroy property and kill people.
Currently there is no online web link available in South Australia for concerned citizens to report Butt Tossers and Litterers.
There was a system in place but for some absolutely ridiculous and still unexplained reason, the SA Govt shut it down....
It's extremely frustrating for the 100+ South Australians that contact us every week wanting to report 'Ash-holes' they've seen littering their butts from their vehicles.
For some unknown reason, your own State Government no longer wants to harness your own population's enthusiasm and interest in protecting our environment from the harmful effects of cigarette butt littering.
"I spent an hour trying to report some idiot that I saw flicking his butt out of his car - on a Total Fire Ban Day but it was like banging my head against the wall. No-one wanted to know about it." - Tony P., Murray Bridge.
We hear it all the time.
What is even more pathetic is that South Australia did in fact have a similar system to VIC, NSW, WA, and now QLD but for inexplicable reasons they shut it down. Maybe they were receiving too many Citizen Littering Reports and decided it was all too hard...
No BuTTs, together with the efforts of 1,000s of South Australians is working hard to rectify this ridiculous situation - and you can help too. (More on this below)
Help end South Australia's tosser safe status
Butt no excuses...
Citizen Littering Reports should be brought back in immediately.
South Australia is now the only State in Australia where concerned citizens can't make a litter report on someone they've seen littering a cigarette butt from a vehicle. Despite the fact that littering cigarette butts is illegal, dangerous, destructive to the enviroment, and just plain rude - and not a good look - there's nothing anymore you can do about it - not yet anyway.
The SA Govt is considering changing the current legislation to reintroduce Citizen Littering Reports, and again give concerned citizens the abilty to dob in the morons they see that think it's ok to flick their butts out of their vehicle's windows. But typically, these proposed changes are moving ahead at glacier pace.
If you'd like to see these proposed changes enacted as soon as possible, there is something very simple that you can do let them know how you feel - and give the State Govt a little prod in the right direction. Lord knows they need it...
Send them an email.
At the urging of literally 1,000s of South Australian's (many of whom are smokers) we've set up an easy way for you to to tell the Govt to pull its finger out and allow us to make citizen litter reports on those 'Ash-holes' we all see littering their butts. Simply fill in your contact details and click submit, and the relevant Ministers & Departments in the South Australian State Government - and the Premier - will all receive the following email:
To:
The Hon David Speirs MP - Minister for Environment and Water
The Hon Steven Marshall MP - Premier of South Australia
Sustainability and Climate Change Division, Department of the Premier and Cabinet
Environment Protection Authority (SA)
RE: Public (citizen) reporting of litterers
Dear Minister(s),
As a concerned citizen of South Australia who cares about our environment I would like the same right to make a citizen litter report on those people I see littering their cigarette butts out of their vehicles - as is provided to the citizens of all other Australian States.
Despite the fact that littering cigarette butts is illegal, dangerous, destructive to the environment, and just plain rude, there's currently nothing that I as a responsible South Australian can do about it - and I find this to be absurd.
The current situation is a complete under-utilisation of an increasingly concerned public that could otherwise be put to good use, and in good faith assist the authorities to stamp out this environmentally unacceptable and socially reprehensible behaviour.
I do of course understand the need to be fair, and to eliminate any malicious or fictitious reporting, but if other States in Australia can find a way to do it, surely so too can South Australia.
I am aware that the SA Govt is considering implementing changes to again make citizen reporting of offenders possible and I urge your Department(s) to expedite this important amendment as soon as possible. This is even more critical in the high fire danger season.
There are many enormous challenges facing our environment such as climate change, greenhouse gas emissions and water conservation, etc, and they are going to take decades and cost billions to resolve - that is, assuming that it's still possible to reverse these current and unsustainable situations. At best, any positive action by individuals on these issues can result in tangible, although virtually imperceptible improvements to the situation.
However with cigarette butt litter, the actions of one individual can (and will) result in the direct behavioural change of individual offenders. Compared to the ultimate cost of addressing the issues of climate change, greenhouse gas emissions and water conservation, the costs and resources required in allowing the public to contribute to the elimination of cigarette butt litter are microscopic.
And compared to the costs of the damage caused by bushfires started by discarded cigarette butts, it's really a no-brainer.
After all, if we don't have the will to enact simple changes that can have an immediate and beneficial effect on the easily solvable environmental problem of cigarette butt litter, there's not really much hope that we'll eventually achieve solutions to the 'bigger environmental problems' confronting our society and our planet.
For these reasons I urge your Government to reintroduce citizen littering reports - that can be used as the basis for the prosecution of offenders - as soon as possible.
Yours faithfully,
By law, all emails received by Govt Depts are read and considered - and this one will be too.
You might not receive an immediate reply or a personal response, (though in virtually all cases you will receive an acknowledgement of their receipt of your email shortly after submitting it) but all emails are considered and compiled together - and if the Govt sees that enough people care about this issue, they will inevitably act.
It's grass roots democracy in action and that's a beautiful thing. Equally as beautiful, especially from the environment's perspective would be the elimination of cigarette butt litter.
Alternative methods of contacting the relevant Ministers
You can also fax or snail-mail these Ministers and the Premier - and if you feel as strongly as we do about this issue, you can even call their offices and give them an 'ear-full' (politely of course!). Complete contact information for both Ministers and The Premier is listed below.
Ultimately, we're going to have to change the littering habits of individual smokers to eliminate cigarette butt litter. We're going to have to do it smoker by smoker, but it's not that hard and the journey is well underway.
Research from other States and locations around the world show that once a litterer receives a fine, or even a warning from the authorities that their butt littering has been reported by a concerned citizen and that any further report of a 'repeat performance' will result in a fine, etc, they almost always stop littering their butts from that point on.
That's good for all - and great for the environment. And it's environmentally responible participants like you who are making the difference.
No Butts about it.
We thank you for your support and for your interest in the issue of cigarette butt litter reduction.
Ministers Contact Details:
Department for Environment and Natural Resources
Minister for Environment and Water
The Hon David Speirs MP
Address:
9th floor, Chesser House
91-97 Grenfell Street
Adelaide 5000
Postal Address:
GPO Box 1047
Adelaide SA 5001
Phone: +61 8 8204 1910 +61 8 8204 1910 (General enquiries)
Fax: +61 8 8463 3966
Email: DENRCustomerServiceCentre@sa.gov.au
Web Site:
www.environment.sa.gov.au
Premier of South Australia
The Hon Steven Marshall MP
Postal Address:
GPO Box 2343
Adelaide SA 5001
Phone: 08 8429 3232 +61 8 8429 3232
Fax: +61 8 8463 3168
Email: premier@sa.gov.au
Web Site:
https://premier.sa.gov.au/contact
Environment Protection Authority (SA)
Address:
Level 8, 250 Victoria Square
Adelaide SA 5000
Postal Address:
GPO Box 2607
ADELAIDE SA 5001
Phone: +61 8 8204 2000 +61 8 8204 2000
Fax: +61 8 8124 4670
Email: epainfo@epa.sa.gov.au
Web Site:
www.epa.sa.gov.au