Discarded cigarette butts, including the filter are a form of Toxic non-biodegradable litter. They can be carried as run-off from streets and drains, and flow into rivers, and ultimately into the ocean and end up on its beaches at some point.
Did you know that cigarette butts are extremely toxic to almost all marine and fresh-water fish? A single cigarette butt soaked for a day is enough to turn a liter of fresh clean water into a sickly yellow brown toxic soup, and is likely to kill 50 percent of fish swimming in it.
Cigarette filters are the most collected pollutant each year in worldwide beach cleanups. They are an environmental disaster on the streets, on sidewalks, and other public area's. People think of the filter as a protective health device from tar, However cigarette filters are primarily a marketing tool to help sell what is perceived as a ‘safer’ cigarette because it is filtered. They are perceived to reduce the health risks of smoking through technology.
The Environmental Impact of Cigarette Butt Waste, The Facts!
5.6 trillion cigarettes are sold globally every single year; 360 billion of these are sold annually in the United States.
99% of the total 360 billion cigarettes sold worldwide have cellulose acetate, plastic filters; at least one-third of those – 120 billion more or less – are simply discarded into the environment. These butts then wash into rivers, lakes and then the ocean, many of these are eaten by birds, animals and fish. Cigarette butts are the most littered item in the U.S. and most of the world. Today smoking-related debris is more than 1/3 of all pollutants items found on U.S. most beaches, along rivers and streams.
Cigarette Filters are made from plastic and non-biodegradable, However, although ultraviolet rays from the sun will eventually with time break them into smaller unnoticeable pieces, the toxic material they contain will never disappears.
Cigarette butts also will leach organic chemicals and most heavy metals into the surrounding environment, these can be very toxic to fresh and salt-water fish. They are highly toxic when ingested by children and other smaller living organisms.
Cigarettes contain many highly toxic chemicals like , carcinogenic chemicals, pesticides, and nicotine. Smoking is the no1 cause of preventable death globally, taking more than 5 million lives each year. Smoking will kill 1 billion people this century alone!
Discarded cigarette butts can ignite very destructive, deadly, and injurious fires in minutes. More than 950 people in the United States die each year in fires related to cigarettes. About 2,500 are injured. Human and property costs and damages from fires caused by careless smoking total around $6 billion.
Cigarette butt waste cleanup is a very costly task, A San Francisco litter audit study found the cost to be over $7 million annually. Taxpayers and local authorities currently carry these costs, however some people feel cleanups and prevention should to be the responsibility of the tobacco industry's.
Many smokers believe filters provide some sort of protection for health - that cigarets with filters are “safer” - However National Cancer Institute publications around the world, show there have been no benefits to public health from filters in general. The tobacco industry claim on filters is known to be a fraud.
Tobacco companies continue to oppose regulations compelling them to take responsibility for butt waste. Although despite the widely recognized environmental principle of Extended Producer Responsibility, cigarette manufactures and distributors claim ‘the responsibility for proper disposal’ of cigarette waste belongs to the smoker or individual responsible.
What is the best way to dispose of cigarette butts?
Alternately you can now recycle the little suckers, here I found a great site with some information on how to recycle butts: Recyclenation.
For this post I did some research from multiple sources, please see below
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