Cigarette butts are marine pollution; they’re not small and harmless
On a nice autumn day last year, my friends and I took part in a national shoreline cleanup. We picked up many cigarette butts.
The national report of findings from that day shows that 367,010 cigarette butts were collected across Canada. Cigarette butts made up the single largest item collected. The number is astounding considering that Canada has a population of slightly under 34 million and the smoking minority is rapidly decreasing (they’re either dying or quitting as the anti-smoking laws leave them very few places to indulge in their habit).
According to Cleanup Australia, out of 24 billion cigarettes sold in Australia each year, 7 billion of these are littered. It is estimated that 4.5 trillion cigarette butts worldwide are littered each year.
The picture doesn’t look good elsewhere. In the US, Cigarette butts are the most littered item in the country. Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup reports that “cigarette butts have been the single most recovered item since collections began.”
What happens to the environment
Cigarette butts contain dangerous chemicals such as arsenic, cadmium cyanide and lead. When disposed casually, they will go into the storm drain and into the water supply. The toxic chemicals are leached into aquatic ecosystems, threatening the water and the marine life in it. As storm water is not treated, anything contained within it will wash into rivers and end up on riversides and on beaches.
The butts themselves are made of cellulose-acetate, a type of plastic and can take years to break down. In sea water, they are particularly hard to biodegrade.
The presence of littered butts encourages further littering as the areas become dirty and neglected looking.
Consequences for marine life
Birds and marine animals can mistake cigarette butts for food. Animals have been found with large quantities of butts in their stomachs. Butts can swell up inside the stomach, giving the animal a false sense of being full – and it can starve as a result.
The toxins in butts are also a danger. According to studies by the EPA, one cigarette butt in 2 litres of water is acutely toxic to water fleas, a planktonic animal that occupies a critical position in the food chain of aquatic ecosystems. Toxins enter the food chain and wreak havoc with fish, birds and mammals. Marine mammals – like dolphins and porpoises – accumulate the most toxins at the top of the food chain and because their bodies contain greater amounts of fat.
An excerpt from a report by Smoke Free Oregon:
“…Tumors found in turtles returning to beaches to lay eggs in the sand have been linked to cigarette butt pollution in Hawaii. Sea lions, elephant seals and harbor seals haul out daily on beaches to absorb the heat from the sun, give birth and feed their newborn pups. Crabs, clams, starfish and sea urchins are commonly found on nearly all beaches. According to the UN International Maritime Organization, 177 species of marine animals and 111 species of shorebirds are affected by tobacco litter causing unnecessary malnutrition, starvation, and death (Source: California Coastal Commission 2003, UN International Maritime Organization 2003).”
Fighting the butt peril
It is unlikely that smokers deliberately venture out to harm the environment and put the rest of us at risk. It’s more a case of smokers not thinking of cigarette butts as refuse/garbage. Cigarette butts are not seen as litter because they are so small and innocuous looking. These same people probably would not discard larger items with the same lack of care.
35 communities throughout the US received grants from Keep America Beautiful for programs in cigarette litter prevention. Cities that have received this grant have averaged a 47 percent reduction in cigarette butt litter, according to Keep America Beautiful. In addition to funds the grant also provides pocket receptacles/disposal units for butts that will be given away for free at local businesses.
There are also legal and financial deterrents for careless polluters. Many areas have laws against littering (usually a misdemeanour) and the offending party can be fined if caught.
But disposal points are useless if smokers refused to use them and fines don’t deter violators if they don’t think they’ll get caught. Only a system combining education, resources and enforcement will go toward tackling the problem.
Those who must smoke might spare a thought for the birds and wildlife if not for their own health and safety.
Further reading:
Prevent Cigarette Litter from Keep America Beautiful
Related article: Protecting our rivers, lakes and oceans – things you can do
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I think cigarettes butts is the last thing we should concerned with, have You ever taken a stroll down the river ? You wont to talk about water pollution Ha ! Ha ! Take a ride down the river and see how many homes are along side of the river, ok then take a good look at the river banks, see if You notice Pure Sewage running out into the river Yea Raw Sewage, I have a Plumbing Co. here in MISSISSIPPI, I’ve seen it with my own eyes, I was totally shocked ! I have swam in that river when i was a kid, OMG, the things You find out when you grow up ! So just think of how many homes are along the river with RAW SEWAGE RUNNING INTO OUR WATER SUPPLY ! I really can’t beleive our GOVERNMENT allows this,but then again we have allkinds of LAWS THAT GO IGNORED ! If you are worried about WATER POLLUTION go see for yourself, everyones so worried about little things well try to do something about that, I’ll be waiting to here this on the news but I no in America we only worry about petty stuff and not what really matters to the human race, So let’s all thank our GOVERNMENT for allowing us acssess to all these New Diseases and sicknesses !!!
So toxic… didn’t think about the cigarettes going down into the bodies of water. I dislike smoking and cigarettes, but I believe that smokers (who are caring people) can be responsible with their habit. Thanks for sharing this video; it is an eye-opener that draws you into something that you don’t normally think about.
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