It may be just a cigarette to some, but a Barrie police officer is handing out hefty fines to anyone seen littering their butts.

Const. Mark Casey, an ex-smoker himself, says he's handed out about six $110 littering tickets a month to people caught throwing their cigarettes out of their car window.

“Thirty-three per cent of most of the world’s trash thrown out onto the roads are cigarette butts,” says Casey.

According to the Americans for Non-Smokers Rights, cigarettes are not bio-degradable. They are made from cellulose acetate, a plastic that it says never disappears.

“I'm not against smokers. I'm against the whole fact of littering,” he says.

Casey says people he pulls over are in disbelief.

“They look at me and say it's only a cigarette. A couple have said it's not like I threw a coffee cup out or anything like that,” says Casey.

The $110 dollar fine may seem expensive to some, but it's cheap compared to Western Australia. Tossing a cigarette butt there will land you a $25,000 fine or 12 months in jail.