Solving the disposal of cigarette butts outdoors. South Africa is in need of an outdoor smoking solution.

Now it is illegal to smoke in "partially enclosed" public places such as covered patios, within 5 metres of entrances, verandas, balconies, walkways and parking areas.

The new laws will have dramatic affect on 7.2 million South African smokers (roughly 22% of the population), going about their daily lives at office blocks, visiting shopping centers, bars, restaurants, airports and other heavily frequented public spaces while smoking a total of over 60 million cigarettes per day.

The fine for the owner of a restaurant, pub, bar, workplace or any other space in which smokers and non-smokers come into contact that breaches the smoking laws is now a maximum of R50 000, and for the individual smoker R500.

Of course, many smokers dispose of cigarette butts with a casual flick with the assurance that the municipal cleaning department will ultimately clean up their waste and dispose of it in an environmentally responsible manner.

This is particularly true of smokers because of the apparently innocuous nature of a small cigarette butt. However, if improperly discarded, a cigarette butt can pose a significant environmental threat.

This threat is mainly due to the fact that cigarette butts are not biodegradable because of cellulose acetate - a type of plastic in the filters - and can take 10 to 15 years to break down naturally.

Because of their small size, cigarette butts can get tossed about with the wind and can end up stuck in places that city cleaning services may not be able to reach. Cigarette butts also leach toxic chemicals into the water and soil as they degrade into a fine plastic powder.

To make matters worse, cigarette butts can be washed away into water supply systems and the seas where they are mistaken for food by birds, fish and other creatures causing digestive problems and making them ingest toxic chemicals like arsenic, cyanide, hydrogen, cadmium and lead from filters.

In many parts of the world, discarded cigarette butts have been the cause of many big fires that have destroyed huge chunks of flora and fauna.

In South Africa, an environmental solution to inform and educate smokers about the need for better disposal of cigarette butts will certainly go a long way in both keeping the streets tidy and protecting the environment.

Smokers should be encouraged to dispose of their cigarette ends responsibly However, to ensure its ultimate effectiveness, an education program needs to be heavily supported by a proactive, responsible means of disposing of cigarettes.

These all affect the general public as well as smokers themselves. Although they are paying customers and citizens of our cities, smokers are often feeling maligned by legislation that sees them treated as an afterthought as they are forced outside and hidden around corners.

Inconvenienced by the new law, in many cases, the immediate reaction of smokers is to dispose of cigarette butts on the floor of property owners.

The increasing volumes of improperly disposed of cigarette butts is both unattractive and unhygienic and is a problem faced in public spaces, entrances to office blocks, restaurants, bars, pubs, shopping centres and city streets.

Smokers themselves are forced to frequent unattractive, dirty and obscure areas in order to abide by the new law. This could result in a future law being passed, fining business owners for the butt litter outside their premises.

A local South African company called Ash n Ad has introduced the solution to this major problem. For more information about Ash n Ad and how you can order your very own ashtray.Please visit www.ashnad.co.za. Put your butt into it and lets keep South Africa Tidy.