cigarette butts

Every 2 weeks I am supposed to write for my community newsletter about environmental issues, here is part of my first writing which I am sure is going to make most of the smokers hate me but hopefully change someones mind.





Here is my first research which I thought up when I was walking between the main office and the fisheries building and seen many cigarette butts all over the ground.



I found this site http://www.buttsout.net when I was researching about litter from cigarettes and here is what is says about litter.

Ten Things you should know about cigarette butt litter​

​

1) Cigarette butt litter is the world’s greatest environmental litter problem.



2) Globally, approximately 4.3 trillion cigarette butts are littered every year. Smokers in the USA account for over 250 billion cigarette butts, in the UK 200 tonnes of butts are discarded, and Australian smokers litter over 7 billion cigarette butts annually. In most Western countries cigarette butt litter accounts for around 50% of all litter.



3) Almost 1 in 3 cigarette butts end up as litter.



4) Cigarette butt litter dramatically increases where indoor smoking bans are implemented. (No this does not mean you should smoke indoors)



5) In Australia, smokers throw away enough butts to fill 7 Olympic swimming pools. Up to 350,000 butts end up in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria and waterways every day.



6) It can take up to 12 years for a cigarette butt to break down.



7) Cigarette butts have been found in the stomachs of fish, whales, birds, and other marine animals that leads to ingestion of hazardous chemicals and digestive blockages.



8) Cigarettes butts can leach chemicals such as cadmium, lead and arsenic into our marine environment within an hour of contact with water.



9) Smokers in many countries can be fined for flicking a lit cigarette.



10) And the final and most important thing to know about cigarette litter is: Only smokers can stop cigarette butt litter.







The solution on the website suggests that smokers should carry around their own personal ashtray. I really do not think that would work or anyone would want to try that, besides we do not want anything that will increase the cigarette smell. So the best solution is to quit, it is bad for your health, bad for the health of those around you, and now you know it is bad for the environment. Also this list is only information on cigarette butts and does not include the information on the environmental impact of carbon dioxide from the big trucks bringing you your favorite smokes or the amount of energy that goes into growing tobacco which could be going towards growing something useful such as food.

 

I think you got one of your numbers wrong. 4.3 cigarette butts littered a year seems a little small! but I agree with you, I always knew they caused some sort of damage.

 

i think quitting isn't the best solution, maybe lobbing the cigarette companies to make more biodegradable butts would be a better solution?

smoking isn't something that most people can just give up....and probably being that they smoke, and everyone at this point knows how bad it is for you, i seriously doubt smokers care enough for the environment to stop smoking or carry around a personal ashtray...

i agree with you that something should be done to aid in this, just maybe we should think of better solutions and try and get the word out to smoking companies and to smokers

i'm sure alot of the people here have seen a friend throw a butt on the ground and do/say nothing....



that's just my 2 cents though


ps. lizard queen i love your sig

 

opps thanks, I meant to say 4.3 trillion

 

let me guess, you smoke?

I never said the most reasonable I said best solution.

I smoked 3 packs a day for 5 years so I do not accept that people can not quit. I know how hard it is but I will keep the attitude that If I can do it so can you. So I do think that most people can quit.

and the personal ashtrays are really funny looking and come with a belt clip. who would where an ashtray on there belt?

The only way I see the cigarette companies making more biodegradable filters if they become cheaper, and that would also give the impression that it is ok to throw them out. The problem is not only that it breaks down so slowly but the chemicals in the cigarettes cause allot of pollution.

 

I admit it.. I smoke. But I do not litter my butts. I have one of those personal ashtrays you speak of. http://www.planetark.com/campaignspage.cfm/newsid/164/newsDate/137/story.htm It's made out of heat retardant plastic and seals well, so once the lid is closed there is no smell at all. If I happen to not have it on me when out and about and there is no cigarette disposal bins around, I will stomp it and be sure it is out and then put it in the next bin I find. I'm sure that I am one of the few that do this though and I do agree that cigarette butts are a big problem.

 

why dont you just put out the ciggarette on the wall or ground, and throw the NON-lit cigarette into the trash can? thats what i do. most of the time at least

 

actually i don't smoke

i think along the lines of best solution, it goes hand in hand with the most reasonable one, otherwise whats the point of thinking of the "best" solution if it's not going to be implimented

i agree that the likely hood of cigarette companies making biodegradable filters is slim and most companies are cheap and want to make as much of a profit as possible, but if people take a stand on it then they will listen

 

That''s what I mean.. if there are no facilities to dis[size=-1]pose of them, I stom[/size][size=-1]p them and then carry them to the nearest "trash can" called a "bin" in Australia.
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Hehehe! I've been known in public to tell people to throw their cigarette butts in the trash if I've noticed that they tossed theirs to the ground. Especially when there's a trash can only a few feet away. I've had some very hostile reactions to that of course.

Sometimes I'll just pick them up and throw them away myself. Gross maybe, but I hate seeing litter.

 

There are Fines in Some Towns in the UK...If you are Caught Dropping a Cigarette Butt...

 

Perhaps you should also look at the amount of disposable diapers and how many swimming pools they would fill.

I am a smoker but I dispose of my butts in garbage recepticals. I don't know how many times in shopping center parking lots I've almost stepped on a used diaper. I'd personally rather step on a cigarette butt.

 

Chewing Gum is the main Litter Around these Parts...

The Whole Pavement is Pebbled with Chewing Gum...

And it Sticks...

 

I actually never see any diapers around here gardener, but I need to think of something to do with the environment every 2 weeks for my community newsletter, so eventually I should get to that subject since we have alot of babies here. That actually sounds really gross and I would much rather walk on cigarettes also.



but thanks for the feedback everyone.

I am thinking of ordering some of those ashtrays but I am not sure if people will actually use them and I have a very small budget for things like this. I remember when I was a kid every trash can had big ashtrays full of sand on top at bus stops and malls and now I never see this.

 

I'm what some call a "hippie freak" or "tree humper" because I follow people who I see throw their cigs on the ground until they pick them up..

 

I have a bumper sticker that says "Keep your Butt in your car. The earth is not your ashtray!"

I got it for my husband because that is one of his peeves, but he didnt want to put it on his car, so I put it on mine! I work right down the street from RJR and tobacco does support a lot of people around here, so I'm surprised my car hasnt been keyed yet!

 

i have a cool little silver fillagreed ashtray i got at a local tobacco shop that i carry when there is nowhere to dispose of butts; it seals well & doesn't smell. i've seen old Altoid mints' containers used for the same purpose (i love recycling). if you're going to smoke have the decency to pick up after yourself. i'm guilty of preaching at other smokers for throwing them on the ground.

 

people just don't have enough respect. those little ashtrays are interesting, but really impractical and unneccesary. you can just put your smoke out and pocket your butt until you get a chance to toss it like a few people said. the smell shouldn't be an issue, if you smoke you're gonna smell like you smoke and if that makes you uncomfortable you shouldn't smoke. i try and hold my butts till i get a chance to toss them.

the answer to reducing littering shouldn't lie in mass producing little plastic ashtrays to be carried by every individual who smokes. it's a pretty bad idea really. it just uses more recources to make something that most people won't use.

 

As everyone here sits on the internet wasting electricity (most likely coal-burning or hydro-electric, neither of which is good at all for the environment), and a computer that won't break down for a thousand times as long as cigarette (with much worse chemicals for the environment) but feeling superior to smokers.

Go team hypocrisy.

 

Smoke rollups. No problem, paper and tobacco are both biodegradable if you do throw it on the floor. Less chemicals in the tobacco as well. Many trance parties in europe also give little film canisters when you enter to put your cig ends in.