Cigarette Butts Cause The Most Litter On Earth And Volunteers Picked Up 270k In Just A Few Hours

Dec 04, 2019 by apost team

There have been public health actions for decades to get people to stop smoking, and the smoking rate has gone down somewhat, but according to Very Well Mind, there are still five to six trillion cigarettes sold around the world annually. You might assume that cigarettes are biodegradable because tobacco comes from the ground, but the truth is they are a toxic pollutant.

Cigarette butts and their filters are the most abundant form of pollution in the oceans around the world. In 32 years of beach cleanups, the Ocean Conservancy found that cigarette butts are the most prevalent type of waste found on beaches worldwide.

Volunteers of the organization have collected more than 60 million of them, which is greater than all the plastic wrappers, bottle caps, utensils, and food containers combined.

apost.com

Most people are not aware of what cigarette filters are made of. Cigarette companies have experimented with biodegradable materials and paper, but the truth is they're made of plastic. To be specific, it is a cellulose acetate compound that takes more than 10 years to break down.

In addition to plastic, cigarette butt filters are composed of synthetic fibers and chemicals. These substances are found in 30% of sea turtles and 70% of seabirds, according to the Ocean Conservancy.

In spite of this easy-to-find knowledge, people still tend to believe that cigarette filters are made of cotton and paper. If you thought plastic straws were a hazard, cigarette butts are an even worse epidemic to the environment.

The ironic thing is that the filters are not fit for the purpose they were designed for. They're supposed to protect the health of the smoker by filtering out tar and nicotine. In reality, the filters provide no reduction in the harmful substances that are inhaled when you smoke. They merely serve as a marketing tool that makes people think they are safer when they smoke filtered cigarettes.

Despite all the harm that cigarettes cause to people and the environment, it has been nearly impossible to impose regulations to solve these problems. It seems inevitable that some people will insist on smoking, but we could be doing a much better job of making the planet safer for non-smokers. One example is a recent New York legislative bid to let people return cigarette butts for a refund, but it was never even put up for a vote, reports The New York Times.

Some people such as the Cigarette Butt Pollution Project are doing something to help the environment. They help local organizations in efforts to reduce pollution. Their research has shown that up to two-thirds of cigarette butts are disposed of irresponsibly.

Aside from the worldwide problem of smoking as a health hazard, there are two major problems with the cigarette industry. One is that billions of tons of trash are dumped in oceans and on beaches because people don't want garbage dumped near their back yards. Even if people manage to sink a cigarette butt into a trash can rather than on the sidewalk, it still perpetuates the environmental issues.

The second problem with cigarette pollution is that they more often than not end up on the ground rather than in the trash. The unfortunate consequence is that they are eaten by birds and animals, and people take them into their homes on the bottom of their shoes. Sometimes children end up playing with them, and they end up in gardens or sewers that lead to their water supplies. According to NBC, every second, people toss 137,000 cigarette butts on the ground around the world.

Cigarettes are not only the most common litter in the ocean but on land as well. A recent public awareness project was performed in Brussels by activists who wanted to demonstrate the scope of the cigarette pollution problem. In only three hours, 203 volunteers gathered up 120,000 cigarette butts.

One of the first actions that needs to happen to solve this pollution crisis is to stop the manufacture of cigarette filters. Fortunately, there are some governments that are beginning to start initiatives to do this. Aside from the pollution that cigarettes cause, there is also the problem of their tendency to start fires.

Were you aware of the scope of cigarette pollution? Tell us in the comment section, and let people know about this story on social media.

Our content is created to the best of our knowledge, yet it is of general nature and cannot in any way substitute an individual consultation by your doctor. Your health is important to us!