Peeve - Cigarette Butt Litter

One of my many peeves is littering. But the worst kind of littering, specifically, is cigarette butts. Setting aside the fire hazard of butt flicking, and the disgusting aesthetic of dirty ciggy butts everywhere you walk, there is a real and immediate environmental impact from all of those discarded, chemical soaked filters.

An article published in 2009 by The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health states that, "Discarded cigarette butts are a form of non-biodegradable litter. Carried as runoff from streets to drains, to rivers, and ultimately to the ocean and its beaches, cigarette filters are the single most collected item in international beach cleanups each year. They are an environmental blight on streets, sidewalks, and other open areas. Rather than being a protective health device, cigarette filters are primarily a marketing tool to help sell ‘safe’ cigarettes. They are perceived by much of the public (especially current smokers) to reduce the health risks of smoking through technology. Filters have reduced the machine-measured yield of tar and nicotine from burning cigarettes, but there is controversy as to whether this has correspondingly reduced the disease burden of smoking to the population. Filters actually may serve to sustain smoking by making it seem less urgent for smokers to quit and easier for children to initiate smoking because of reduced irritation from early experimentation."

There is another study that was published in Australia in 2016 which highlights the sheer volume of cigarette waste and the near silence on it's impact. "Tobacco product waste has until recently received the least attention, yet post-consumption rubbish produced by the approximately 6.3 trillion cigarettes smoked globally every year includes some 300 billion cigarette packs that produce an estimated 1 800 000 tonnes of waste paper, cellophane, foil and glue; and trillions of cigarette butts that are littered on roadways, pavements, and in parks and other green spaces (Novotny et al. 2009, 2015)." You can find the full article here: Environmental impacts of tobacco product waste: International and Australian policy responses.

From each of those articles you will find links to further research that essentially points to cigarette litter as hazardous waste. A study was conducted in 2012 among smokers from various demographics to determine attitudes about cigarette butts as litter and the perceived toxicity. You can read the results of that study here.

Ultimately the study concluded that, "Messages in anti-cigarette-litter campaigns should emphasize that cigarette butts are not just litter but are toxic waste and are harmful when disposed of improperly."

So to all you butt flickers out there, STOP YOUR DAMN POLLUTING! Find a suitable receptacle or just quit smoking. It's a disgusting habit, it's not sexy or badass. And if you see butts on the ground, pick them up and dispose of them properly. We are all sharing this planet so stop being selfish.

Thank you.

Peace & Love
~99