Ballot Bins

Reducing litter is a local priority (1) and this project is about installing 5 Ballot Bins across Plaistow. These serve as a customisable ashtray, proven to reduce cigarette butt litter by 46%. The voting ashtray first featured in the Neat Streets campaign to jolt people out of their normal littering routine by asking fun and competitive questions that everyone has an opinion on! It took social media by storm with the question ‘Who’s the best footballer in the world? Ronaldo or Messi’.

Each Ballot Bin displays a question and two answers. Smokers vote by putting their cigarette butt in the slots underneath their preferred answer. The litter stacks up behind the clear glass front in two columns, showing which answer is more popular.

The questions can be easily changed by the Ballot Bin owner. They can be funny, topical, provocative – whatever works for individual groups. Community neighbourhood teams/ council teams/ libraries can get the local community involved in suggesting questions and change them as regularly as needed to keep it interesting.

The Hubbub Foundation website states that studies show that proposals to decrease cigarette butt pollution have been largely ineffective, with cigarette butts consistently being the single most collected item in beach clean-ups and litter surveys.

Smokers find the Ballot Bins much more engaging than alternative ashtrays and are more likely to use them