Litter piles up after Langara students told to butt out

Reported by Joe Ayres

Six months after going smoke-free Langara College is still struggling with cigarette butts being littered around campus.

When Langara transitioned to a smoke-free campus in May the smoking poles were removed. A sparse supply of trash cans leave smokers with limited options for disposing their butts.

The lack of disposal units for Langara smokers affects the neighbouring properties, as smokers leave their butts on front lawns and sidewalks.

In response, facilities will replace removed smoking poles in the near future.

“We anticipated this challenge during the planning phase of the initiative,” said Raymond Yeung, manager of facility services, in an email.

“We have increased our daily litter patrols along these routes and have gone further off campus . . . to assist our neighbours.”

Enforcement a challenge

While official policy states that security will enforce the ban, sight supervisor Kristina Tait said that the responsibility to stop smokers is a collaborative effort between all departments at Langara.

She said when security receives a report of smoking on campus, it can be difficult for staff to arrive in time to address the issue, given the short period of time it takes to smoke a cigarette.

Campus community reacts

 

“I am opposed to the smoking ban. If we make this a completely self righteous smoke free campus we are basically discouraging people from coming to school.”

 

 

 

 

“Instead of having a ban the university should promote specific areas in which people go to smoke . . . and that way we’ll pollute less.”

 

 

 

 

“Nothing has really changed, if anything its just kinda pushed people out towards the perimeter“

 

 

 

 

“I think it’s good . . . don’t really want to see people throwing cigarettes right in front of the library, its kinda disrespectful and I don’t like smelling cigarettes.”