Dunedin businesses are being offered free cigarette butt bins, as part of a city-wide street cleaning initiative.

The bins are being supplied by Keep New Zealand Beautiful, and can each hold about 600 butts.

The organisation is holding a street cleaning expo in Dunedin at the beginning of December.

And as part of that all local businesses are invited to take one or two cigarette butt bins for the outside of their premises.

The bins can be collected from the Octagon during the expo.

They'll come equipped with accessories for opening and cleaning them, as well as associated stickers and posters.

Eventually the used cigarette butts will be able to be recycled, with proceeds going to charity.