Cigarette butts are toxic waste
Billions of pounds of cigarette butts are thrown to the ground every year, poisoning waterways and killing fish.
Wed, Jun 03 2009 at 9:21 PM EST
Photo: Kain Road Cul de Sac/Flickr I had a friend in college who confidently explained that cigarette butts biodegrade and that it was OK to toss 'em on the ground. We argued a lot.
Cigarette butts are not biodegradable. In fact, they're just about as far from being biodegradable as you can get and are made of synthetic fibers that act as a sponge, sucking up and holding a plethora of toxic chemicals from the tobacco smoke.
When cigarette butts get tossed into lakes, streams and other waterways, they can wreak havoc on the ecosystem, killing off fish and other aquatic life.
Jennifer Lance over at Blue Living Ideas has a great post laying out the dangers of discarded cigarette butts and pulled together some pretty scary numbers- 1.69 billion pounds of butts are improperly disposed of (i.e.: littered) every year. Swing over and get the full (scary) picture.
And if you smoke cigarettes, stop tossing your butts in my environment.
Also on MNN:
• I'm a quitter: MNN's D.C. correspondent kicks the smoking habit publicly.
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Comments
Responsible Smokers Act
06/06/2009 01:02 AM
Check out our solution to this problem. Make ashtrays that educate of the environmental devastation that occurs when you toss a butt. While providing a place to properly dispose, while creating a use for them.
Martin at PlasticLess
06/05/2009 15:55 PM
Way back last century I worked on the grounds crew at a airport and we spent a 1/2 hour a day picking up litter. We didn't pick up cigarette butts, mostly because our pointy sticks didn't work on them, but also because they don't look that obvious. If they are non degradable toxic litter, gov't should make companies dye them a different color, like fluorescent puce.
