A communication transmitted from Louis A. DePasquale, City Manager, relative to Awaiting Report Item Number 18-131, regarding a report on the use of cigarette disposal box program

1 TO: Louis C DePasquale City Manager FROM: Owen O’Riordan Commissioner February 6, 2019 Re: Awaiting Report AR-18-131 regarding a report on the use of the cigarette disposal box program, if the program will be expanded, and any other relevant program details. In response to the above referenced awaiting report, please be advised that in the spring of 2017 the Department of Public Works (DPW) began installing cigarette disposal boxes (Sidewalk Butlers), primarily in the Central Square area, as a pilot project to help curb the litter problem. Approximately 30 of these boxes were placed from Sydney Street to Inman street. Boxes are checked on a weekly basis by DPW employees, and while there has been some use, the emptying of them is infrequent based on the volume of material deposited. While there are no immediate plans to expand the program, DPW did recently walk the square with several representatives from Cambridge Citizens for Smokers rights who pointed out currently problematic locations and made suggestions for disposal boxes in other more strategically placed locations. DPW will review the information they provided and will move or add a few additional sites. We will also be replacing some of the older boxes that have fared less well over time with newer ones. At this time, we are not proposing to expand the areas where sidewalk butlers are placed, nor have not had requests from the various business associations or other community members relative to such. Historically, the cigarette but litter problem has been more concentrated in Central Square, primarily due to the nature of the existing infrastructure in the square, i.e. molded bricks sidewalks with larger spaces between bricks and tree grates where cigarettes litter gets lodged and is difficult to remove. .