To curb the dropping of cigarette butts on streets, Chengguan or urban patrol officers in Changzhou have come up with a new idea: giving out portable ash bags, Modern Express Daily reported on Monday.

On Friday, the first 5,000 cigarette ash bags were distributed for free on Nandajie, the city's busiest commercial street, where, sanitation workers said more than 3,000 cigarette butts are dropped daily in a 600-meter range.

While many think the palm-size ash bags, made of fire resistant materials, could help clean the environment and reduce fire hazards, some have questioned whether they encourage smoking in public areas.