Cigarette butts are one of the most harmful forms of litter. They take years to break down and contain dangerous chemicals that leach into the environment. These toxins are taken up by plants and carried into rivers, lakes, and oceans. They can also cause harm to animals.
Toxic Waste
Cigarette butts are more than just trash; they contain toxic chemicals that leach into the environment when exposed to water or sunlight. In addition to the nicotine and smoke residue, butts comprise a plastic filter containing cellulose acetate—an artificial material that doesn’t biodegrade. When butts are left on the ground, they slowly break down over time into smaller waste particles that can be washed away into rivers, lakes, and oceans or absorbed into the soil.
As they degrade, they release hundreds of harmful chemicals, including arsenic, cadmium, and lead. These chemicals can have long-term impacts on the environment and human health, contaminating waterways, harming wildlife, and affecting plant life. These are some reasons why there is a great need to dispose of cigarette butts properly. Researchers have conducted several experiments to determine the impact of cigarette butts on the environment.
One experiment involved soaking a discarded butt (including the filter and 28 mm of remnant tobacco) for an hour in fresh water to measure the changes in the pH of the water. A higher pH indicates a greater concentration of toxic chemicals in the water. This study revealed that the cellulose acetate part of the cigarette filter can leach up to 20 times more of these toxic chemicals into the water than the remaining tobacco. It is estimated that cigarette butts pollute more than 1000 liters of freshwater annually.
Fire Hazard
Cigarette butts are the most common form of litter collected by environmental cleanup crews, but they’re not as harmless as it may seem. Cigarette butts are made of plastic and heavy metal, which can devastate the environment and wildlife. When cigarette butts are left on the ground, they slowly break down and leach chemicals into the soil. This can lead to toxic chemicals seeping into street gutters and waterways, polluting the environment. Wildlife can also eat them, carrying them away to rivers, beaches, and oceans.
A study found that cigarette butts comprise 25-50 percent of all litter collected from roadways and streets. It’s even more of a problem in urban areas, where the butts are often small enough to be carried away by wind, rain, and animals. The butts are also not biodegradable, so they sit on the ground much longer than other types of waste. It takes 720 days for them to decompose in grassland soil and much longer in dune soil. This slow breakdown releases hazardous chemicals into the soil, poisoning organisms and harming ecosystems. However, if cigarette butts are recycled, they can be used to make new plastic products.
Health Hazard
Cigarette butts are familiar in green spaces, sidewalks, beaches and waterways. They are the most commonly collected form of litter, accounting for 30 to 38 percent of all debris along shorelines, rivers, and oceans. Smoking-related waste accounts for a third or more of all trash collected during coastal cleanups conducted by public agencies and volunteer groups. Although cigarette filters look like white cotton, they’re made from plastic (cellulose acetate). As such, they don’t biodegrade and instead photodegrade, breaking into smaller and smaller bits over time as they’re exposed to the sun’s ultraviolet rays.
These microplastics can then wash down into rivers, lakes, and the ocean, contaminating marine habitats with toxic chemicals. Birds, fish, and whales can ingest the plastic parts of a cigarette butt, and may be lodged in their digestive tracts. Research suggests that if these butts seep into the soil, they can leach heavy metals and polyaromatic hydrocarbons, known carcinogens, into the environment. In one laboratory study, a single cigarette butt soaked in water for 24 hours released enough chemical contaminants to kill 50 percent of the saltwater and freshwater fish exposed to the leachates. That’s just one of many studies showing that cigarette butts can be hazardous to humans, too.
Safety Hazard
Cigarette butts contain a dangerous combination of chemicals. The plastic, non-biodegradable cigarette filter contains chemicals such as titanium dioxide and crocidolite (a toxic mineral from asbestos). The tar contained in a cigarette also includes chemicals, many of which are known to be carcinogenic. When littering a cigarette, it seeps the toxins into soil and waterways.
The chemical soup released by discarded cigarette butt can be deadly to fish and other organisms. In a lab experiment, researchers found that just one cigarette butt soaked in a liter of water for four days killed 50% of the freshwater top smelt and saltwater fathead minnow species. Under optimal conditions, it takes at least nine months for a cigarette butt to break down. In dune soil, it may take even longer for a butt to decompose. Cigarette manufacturers have no control over a smoker’s behavior when it comes to littering, just as beverage manufacturers cannot control how people dispose of empty cans or bottles. However, they should play a more significant role in litter prevention campaigns and invest in environmental cleanup efforts.
