Time to get serious about the litter that is literally sending the country up in smoke

With temperatures soaring and England experiencing its hottest June days since records began, environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy is highlighting the risks caused by cigarette butts and disposable barbecues, to try and help stop the country going up in smoke. 

In 2025, fire services across England dealt with almost 27,000 wildfires and outdoor fires, which was a record high, due to prolonged drought and heatwaves. 

The National Fire Chiefs Council consistently points to discarded cigarette butts and abandoned disposable barbecues as the reason for many of these fires. 

Discarded cigarette butts were specifically identified in many major incidents last year, including a secondary blaze started by a smoker who stopped to watch the first blaze on Langdale Moor in North Yorkshire. Cigarette butts were also found to be responsible for recurrent heath fires in southern England. 

Allison Ogden-Newton, chief executive of Keep Britain Tidy, said: ‘With England experiencing more hotter and drier summers than ever, we cannot afford to sit back and watch our country go up in smoke, literally, because of litter.

‘Cigarette butts and disposable barbecues are proven to be the cause of wildfires and outdoor fires and we can do something about them.

‘We welcome the government’s investment of £97 million to help fire and rescue services tackle the ever increasing number of wildfires and believe behaviour change measures could tackle the cause of many of these blazes; prevention is better than cure.’

The call from Keep Britain Tidy comes as the charity publishes new research that shows overwhelming public support (83%) for a scheme that works with councils to prevent and clean up cigarette and smoking related litter.  

The research shows that 80% of people believe it is unfair that taxpayers foot the estimated £40 million annual bill for clearing up smoking related litter. The research also showed that there is a high level of concern among the public (70%) about the ability of councils to fund action to tackle litter, including cigarette butts. 

Allison added, ‘We need to educate smokers to dispose of their butts responsibly, for instance by using a Butt Box or portable ashtray. Keep Britain Tidy has been distributing Butt Boxes and campaigning to prevent cigarette littering for the past four years and has, to date, reduced the littering of butts by 17% and prevented up to 7.5 billion butts a year from being littered.

‘In addition, we are renewing our call for a ban on disposable barbecues. Many people don’t know that so-called disposable barbecues can reach temperatures of up to 290 degrees C, take up to six hours to cool down and so pose an extreme hazard in this weather.’