Keep your cigarette butts to yourselves

We were driving through St. Charles on North Avenue recently afternoon when I noticed a fellow driver throw his cigarette butt out his car window. I was shocked; not because people still voluntarily put smoke into their lungs but because people still fling their butts to the ground.

While I was still shaking my head in disgust, I witnessed another driver toss her butt to the ground. Then, as if there were hidden cameras trying to catch my reaction, I saw a third person hurl a butt out the car window - three inconsiderate people flinging filthy, burning cigarette butts out their car windows all within one mile. Awful.

I'm sure they were all good, hardworking people who wouldn't toss a pop bottle from a moving car, so why toss cigarette butts? They're not biodegradable. Keep them in your car's ashtray or in an empty pop bottle if your car didn't come with an ashtray; many auto manufacturers no longer include them standard. Flinging a cigarette butt onto the ground while walking or driving is called littering. It's gross, it's unsightly and it's against the law.

Ed Spizzirri

St. Charles