Pocket-size portable ashtrays will go on sale in Dublin next month in an attempt to encourage smokers to stop littering the city streets with cigarette butts.
Cigarette butts account for a third of the litter in greater Dublin, with an estimated 240,000 people smoking around 4 million cigarettes daily.
The small "Butts Out" ashtrays, can hold up to six cigarette butts. They will be available in shops and petrol stations for around €3.
The palm-size flip-top ashtrays in bright colours are flameproof and dishwasher safe and are designed to be reused.
One thousand ashtrays will be distributed free of charge to Dublin City Council workers who smoke, as part of the an anti-litter campaign in the run up to next year's planned ban on smoking in pubs and restaurants. The council's offices are already non-smoking.
Announcing the initiative, Dublin's Lord Mayor, Mr Roytson Brady, said: "Already cigarette butts account for 32 per cent of litter on our streets and as more bars and restaurants become non-smoking, it is feared that figure is about to rise.
"I believe we need action now to prevent our pavements from being carpeted with butts and more and more smokers are forced outdoors."
Mr Brady said the ends of cigarettes represented a long-term environmental problem, as they take 12 years to degrade.
People caught littering, including those dropping cigarette butts, are already liable to a €125 fine.
However, Mr Brady said there would be more aggressive enforcement of this law. As well as handing out fines, Dublin City Council is undertaking several other initiatives to combat the litter problem, he added.
"This campaign should ensure that all smokers dispose of their butts in a proper manner and will lead to much cleaner streets," he said.
The campaign is inspired by a similar initiative in the UK and Australia, where the ashtrays are made.