Trash can be roughly divided into two groups: cigarettes and everything else. Of course, there are far more specific subdivisions to be made but for our purposes as writers and yours as a business owner we'll stick to these ones.

Trash can be roughly divided into two groups: cigarettes and everything else. Of course, there are far more specific subdivisions to be made but for our purposes as writers and yours as a business owner we'll stick to these ones.

There are, for better or for worse, still a significant amount of people who enjoy smoking cigarettes, and it behooves you as a business owner to cater to these people. For one, they are a significant market, and of course you want their business. For two, if they leave their cigarette butts all over the place, they will ward off other customers by making your place look unsightly. So what every business needs right outside its front door is an ashtray.

One ashtray available is a smokers' post. This is an ashtray with a long, often cylindrical neck whose mouth is too small to accept anything but cigarettes.

Fire, the problem associated with all kinds of smoke, is dealt with by a smokers' post in two ways. For one, falling cigarettes are denied oxygen by the long neck, which snuffs them out if their owner was careless. For two, the hole is far too small to put anything but cigarettes, so even if one miraculously managed to stay lit, it would find nothing to fuel its fire.

For a more practical option, go for a wall-mounted urn. These are small boxes, about the size of two laptops, with nothing on them but a cartoon cigarette to denote their purpose and a hole to put this purpose to use. They're not pretty, but they're cheap nad they get the job done.

Combined ashtrays and trashcans meet all your waste disposal needs. By investing in one of these, you can economise in ways that the other two don't allow, as there's no point in investing in a place for people to put their cigarette butts if they're just going to leave their orange peels and fast food wrappers all over the place. So, if you're on a budget, this one-stop-drop is the best way to deal with the inevitable, ubiquitous problem of trash. Buy one of these, and all your trash problems will be solved forever.