The statistical characteristics of the littering of cigarette butts are investigated, in the campus of University of Fukui and several other public places. It was found that the distribution of the number of butts littered at one spot follows a power law, cn(x)~x-a where cn(x) is the number of spots in which more than or equal to x butts are found. We developed a simple model for the littering behavior on the basis of a well-known principle, “littering attracts littering”. According to our model, the power exponent of cn(x) is equal to, α=1/pƒ, where pƒ is defined as the followers rate, the probability that a person litters to spot that already has butts rather than creating a new littering spot. The followers rate determined from the power law found in the littering data, pƒ=1/α agrees reasonably well with the attitude survey results of a questionnaire conducted for the students.
展开▼
