WELLINGTON Town Council is set to discuss spending hundreds of pounds on a ‘ballot bin’ to encourage smokers to properly discard their used cigarettes.

A ‘ballot bin’ aims to keep streets free of cigarette butts by encouraging smokers to ‘vote’ with their cigarette ends, by dropping them in transparent compartments corresponding to answers to questions posed by it.

The ‘ballot bin’ website gives a number of examples, including asking smokers whether they would rather be stranded on Love Island, or a desert island. The firm behind the bins claims the product can drastically reduce rates of cigarette littering: “Studies show that proposals to decrease cigarette butt pollution have been largely ineffective, with cigarette butts consistently being the single most collected item in beach clean-ups and litter surveys.

“Smokers find the ballot bins much more engaging than alternative ashtrays and are more likely to use them. Independent evaluation shows the ballot bin reduces cigarette butt litter by 73 per cent.”

The 60cm tall by 35cm wide bin would be placed near the Iron Duke pub on Mantle Street, where smokers can often be seen gathering outside.

Wellington Town Council will consider buying a bin, at a cost of £335, at the next meeting of the environment committee on Wednesday, June 19.