Have you heard about portable ashtrays? The idea is to curb the litter produced by cigarette smokers when they drop their butts on the ground.

Fifty cities are participating in a campaign to reduce litter from cigarette butts. Buffalo, N.Y., is one.

&8220;Traditionally, people who smoke aren’t litterers, but they don’t think of their habit as producing litter when they throw it down on the ground,&8221; said Jim Pavel, who is heading Buffalo’s cigarette litter prevention efforts as part of the larger Keep America Beautiful campaign.

As part of the effort, volunteers will give away 1,000 portable ashtrays. After that, smokers and companies can buy them for $1. The pocket ashtrays are used widely in Europe.

The Associated Press wrote: &8220;The palm-sized ashtrays have a sliding door which reveals a metal compartment in which a cigarette can be snuffed and stored. The lid shuts snugly to protect clothing. The compartment is big enough for a few butts.&8221;

The campaign has funding from Philip Morris, which is seeking to remind people that though butts look like cotton, they are made from plastic.

&8220;Its very purpose is to trap chemicals, so in those butts there are chemicals that can leach out into the soil and groundwater,&8221; said Rob Wallace of Keep America Beautiful, headquartered in Stamford, Conn.

It wouldn’t hurt Albert Lea smokers to be more conscious of what they do with their cigarette butts. Pocket ashtrays are a good idea. Smokers also can strip the remaining tobacco out and pocket the butts, as the Army requires its soldiers to do.