Smokers in Sydney, N.S., are being asked to stop flicking their cigarette butts on the ground and instead use them to cast a vote.

A "Butt Stop" voting station has been mounted on a fence across from a downtown bar on Esplanade between Dorchester and Pitt streets.

The box features a question and two compartments where people can deposit cigarette butts — one labelled "Yes," the other labelled "No." A butt tossed in either compartment equals one vote.

The box features transparent panels so that voters can which side is winning by the number of butts piling up inside.

"It's going to have different questions. Some fun, some educational," said Jen Cooper, Cape Breton co-ordinator of the Atlantic Coastal Action Program.

The environmental group and the Cape Breton Regional Municipality's wastewater department are the organizations behind the initiative.

Locally made voting box

Cooper said the box was modelled after similar units in other cities around the world and fabricated locally by Sydney-based company Protocase.

Cigarette butts can contain up to 60 different carcinogens and when washed into rivers, harbours and oceans, can leach into the water and harm wildlife.

Cooper is hoping the new voting station will serve as an innovative way to redirect waste and raise awareness about the effect of discarded cigarette butts on the environment.

"Even folks who don't typically litter still flick their cigarette butts. It's just a regular habit," she said. "So you have to get creative and think about ways to divert this waste, and this one's kind of fun."

The plan is to move the box around the downtown and possibly into different parts of the municipality.

Cooper thinks the fixture might even become an attraction.

"It's a bit colder, so there aren't as many people walking by right now," she said.

"But questions will change and I think that when it comes time for Stanley Cup questions and things like that, people might actually even go out of their way to have their say."