CHILDREN from Poulner Infants Eco Club have created a unique Bin Your Butts poster campaign after volunteering for a litter pick with Clean Up Ringwood.

The town centre litter pick was the first event run by community action group Clean Up Ringwood.

But the volunteers from Poulner Infants Eco Warrior club were stunned by the amount of cigarette butts littering the pavements and roads around town.

“I can’t believe people smoke, it’s so bad for you, but then they throw the butt on the floor as well - it’s awful” said seven-year-old Sephora Case.

said Sephora Case, 7. “We spent ages picking the butts up, especially around the bus station.”

Now the Eco Warriors have designed posters to persuade people that cigarettes are litter too, each with the slogan Bin your Butts. With the support of the council, the posters have been printed and are ready for local businesses to display.

“Cigarette butts are so common people hardly notice them. Smokers put them out on the ground instead of binning them” said Hailey Higgins, who runs the Poulner Eco Warriors Club.

“They are made of a plastic that never completely degrades. Our Eco Warriors are really motivated to make positive change and help make the world a better place.”

“Between 30 volunteers, we collected 12 bin bags and four recycling bags in two hours” said Nigel Wright. “It’s amazing to see the community coming together. Now the Poulner Eco Club have designed this poster, it’s going to be great to see it up around town, especially outside shops and cafes, where the cigarette litter gathers.”

Dropped cigarette butts are the most common form of littering, found on 79 per cent of the 7,200 sites surveyed as part of Keep Britain Tidy’s recent Local Environment Quality Survey of England 2017/18.

Clean up Ringwood also organised a litter pick in Poulner. Sixty-two volunteers, including Poulner Scouts, collected 30 bags of rubbish.

To find out about the next event, go to Facebook and search for Clean Up Ringwood.

For copies of the posters for your business, please contact clean-up-ringwood@outlook.com