A DEDICATED litter fighting duo are vowing to carry on their battle to rid Dorchester’s streets of cigarette butts.

Bob Kerr and Felicity McLaren have worked tirelessly in the county town over the last 16 months with their Stop the Drop campaign.

With support from Dorchester BID (Dorset Business Improvement District), Dorchester Town Council and West Dorset District Council, they have seen 90 cigarette butt bins installed in the town centre.

Mrs McLaren has also been round handing out hundreds of personal cigarette butt disposers donated by Japan Tobacco International.

But the pair say there is still plenty to be done to tackle the problem of cigarette butt littering in the town and are also being frustrated in their efforts by vandalism against a number of the bins they have installed.

Mr Kerr said: “Cigarette butts are the worst, most common piece of litter in our town, in any town, and although we have been reducing the volume of this to some extent there is still some way to go.”

Mr Kerr said he would like to see legislation enforced that enables police and other authorities to fine people for dropping litter and also urged people to take more personal responsibility for the cleanliness of their streets.

He said: “It is almost a losing battle because we don’t have anyone on our side.

“People seem to rely more and more on someone else to clean up after them and there is a lack of individual responsibility, which I think is a shame.”

After 60 businesses agreed to buy 90 cigarette bins, Mr Kerr and Mrs McLaren had hoped to draw a line under that side of their campaign and focus on other areas.

But damage to several bins and people stealing the inner trays mean they are still having to spend time and money replacing the units.

Mr Kerr said he had been told people were stealing the trays to remove the tobacco from cigarette butts in the bins and roll their own cigarettes.

He said they had to replace 15 trays at £7.50 a time so far, while other bins had been kicked, set on fire or ripped off the wall.

Mrs McLaren said: “We thought we would have got to the stage where we could move onto different aspects of the problem and it looks like we are going to be bogged down by this.”

Anyone who witnesses any vandalism or theft of the cigarette bins are asked to contact Dorchester Police on 01305 222222.

n harry.hogger@dorsetecho.co.uk