Harsh Facts
Cigarettes are well known for their ability to cause major health issues, ranging from asthma, to cancer, and even to death. We are warned not smoke around our young children to prevent the negative effects of secondhand smoke, and students are taught to avoid tobacco products in school. However, cigarettes have another dangerous side effect that isn’t well known; pollution.
Worldwide, smokers discard 4.5 trillion cigarette butts each year.
Discarded cigarette butts enter our storm drains, and then watersheds, and from there they can potentially travel all the way to the ocean.
Every cigarette butt can contain up to sixty known carcinogens including arsenic, formaldehyde, chromium and lead. There are 1,400 potential chemical additives.
Nicotine has been shown to be lethal to species of fish, crustaceans, zooplankton, and other aquatic organisms.
Cigarette filters are also composed of cellulose acetate, a form of plastic that remains in the environment for long periods of time without breaking down.
For the past eight years (as of 1999), cigarette butts have been the leading item found during the International Coastal Cleanup Project, accounting for nearly one in every five items collected.
Do you smoke? If you are unable to quit, discard of your cigarette butts responsibly. Consider writing to tobacco companies to ask them to address the environmental impact of cigarettes, and consider writing to your local government to take cigarette litter seriously.
