Cigarette butts remain Vancouver's most littered item — and a seemingly unsolvable waste problem

Cigarette butts are still the No. 1 most littered item in Vancouver, where several education and mitigation programs over the years — including the threat of up to $10,000 in fines — have done little to stop them being discarded in the street.

Cigarette butts remain Vancouver's most littered item — and a seemingly unsolvable waste problem
Discarded cigarette butts in a tree well pictured in downtown Vancouver in October 2023.

Cigarette butts are still the No. 1 most littered item in Vancouver, where several education and mitigation programs over the years — including the threat of up to $10,000 in fines — have done little to stop them being discarded in the street.