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Cigarette Butts Toxic to Fish 

Cigarette butts, one of the most ubiquitous forms of garbage in the world, have been found to be toxic to saltwater and freshwater fish.

WATCH VIDEO: Discovery News' Kasey-Dee Gardner tries out a new genetic test for lung cancer that may make it easier to find out who's at risk.

Even with a small amount of unburnt tobacco clinging to it, a single cigarette butt soaked for a day is enough to turn a liter of water a sickly yellow brown and kill 50 percent of fish swimming in it. Without tobacco, it takes about 4 smoked filters to do the same job.

That's a lot of butts in a small area, and the research team that conducted the laboratory study, led by Elli Slaughter of San Diego State University, is quick to point out that no research has been done yet to test how much poison leaches from butts into ponds, lakes, streams and the ocean. Still, humans are inadvertently carpeting the planet in cigarette butts.

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Earth Talk – Little cigarette butts make big litter impact 

Q: Has anyone ever studied the environmental impact of discarded cigarettes? I’m constantly appalled at the number of drivers I see pitching their butts out their car windows. – Ned Jordan, via e-mail

A:�� It’s true that littered cigarette butts are a public nuisance, and not just for aesthetic reasons. The filters on cigarettes – four-fifths of all cigarettes have them – are made of cellulose acetate, a form of plastic that is very slow to degrade in the environment. A typical cigarette butt can take anywhere from 18 months to 10 years to decompose, depending on conditions.

But beyond the plastic, these filters – which are on cigarettes in the first place to absorb contaminants to prevent them from going into the lungs – contain trace amounts of toxins such as cadmium, arsenic, and lead.

Thus, when smokers discard their butts improperly – out car windows or off the end of a pier or onto the sidewalk – they are essentially tossing these substances into the environment.

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San Marcos' Smoke Signals 

"Behavior modification takes time," said a San Marcos city employee during a November 11 city council meeting. The behavior they would like to modify is to prevent smokers from lighting up in nondesignated areas and flicking their butts in city parks. In 2008, San Marcos city councilmembers tried to do just that when they approved an ordinance banning smoking on park trails as well as establishing designated areas where smokers could spark up.

So far, local health organizations and some councilmembers say the ordinance has been a success. Proof of that success took place at Woodland Park one Saturday afternoon in August. That day, volunteers searched the park for cigarette butts, finding a total of 74 butts tossed in planters, on sidewalks, parking lots, and on the grassy hills. A small number considering a similar event two years earlier, when volunteers collected 926 butts at the same location.

And while some claim the decrease is proof the ordinance is working, councilmember Chris Orlando isn't convinced. Orlando believes modifying the behavior is taking too much time. Instead of focusing on modifying the behavior, Orlando would like to modify the ordinance by removing the designated areas and turning the entire park, as well as a hundred-foot area surrounding it, into a smoke-free zone.

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Smokers take heat for dumping cigarette butt 

Smokers have been driven like outcasts to the front of offices, hospitals and restaurants so that they don't taint other peoples' lungs.

Now they're under fire for another environmental scourge: cigarette-butt litter.

The dead filters -- dark after use with scores of chemicals and heavy metals -- clutter landscaping, litter office entrances, line gutters and wash into streams.

A monthlong initiative in Hillsboro Village this fall, complete with signs and cigarette-butt receptacles, reduced the cigarette trash by about 40 percent, according to the Metro Beautification and Environment Commission. The effort was made possible by a $1,500 grant.

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Turning An Eyesore Into Art: Analysis of Organic Compounds Leached From Cigarette Litter (PDF) 

Every year approximately 5.5 trillion cigarettes are produced. Because of the health risk of second hand smoke, more smokers are being forced outside where they are more likely to toss their butts out on the ground. These butts are composed of unsmoked tobacco, paper, and cellulose acetate filter. The filters are designed to trap harmful chemicals and particulate matter. The cellulose acetate filter does not readily biodegrade and can persist in the environment for After filtration, a series of liquid-liquid extractions were performed to isolate certain groups of analytes. The organic extraction phases are still undergoing analysis.

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• Not Just an Eyesore: Analysis of Metals Leached from Smoked Cigarette Litter (PDF) 

Cigarette filters are designed to absorb vapors and particulate matter, many of which are considered harmful to smokers, from mainstream cigarette smoke. Each of the estimated 4.5 trillion cigarettes butts littered each year worldwide, therefore, is a potential point source for environmental pollution. In areas with substantial amounts of cigarette litter, serious environmental hazards may exist as the compounds absorbed from the mainstream smoke are leached out of the butts. Although the compounds and their concentrations in cigarettes and mainstream smoke have been extensively researched, few studies have attempted to identify and quantify the components leached from cigarette butts. The aim of this study was to determine the concentration of 12 selected metals leached from cigarette butts and whole cigarettes in aqueous solutions with the initial pH of 4.0, 5.0, and 6.0 ± 0.1. These pH-values were chosen based on the typical pH range of rainfall and were used to investigate the relationship between pH and leaching. Leachates were analyzed 1 day, 7 days, and 34 days after sample addition to assess the relationship between soaking time and leaching. The resulting leachates were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) for the following metals: aluminum (Al), barium (Ba), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), lead (Pb), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), strontium (Sr), titanium (Ti), and zinc (Zn). Based on comparisons with drinking-water standards set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO), Cd and Pb were proposed as the primary toxicants in cigarette litter leachates.

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NO Butts campaign works in Hillsboro Village 

Smokers are thinking twice before they flick cigarette butts on the ground in Hillsboro Village.

A new anti-litter campaign has resulted in a nearly 40 percent reduction of cigarette butts along the sidewalks in the area, Metro Public Works officials say.

The Metro Beautification and Environment Commission, along with the Hillsboro Village Merchants Association, launched the "Please NO Butts in the Village" campaign in September.

Using funds from a $1,500 grant sponsored by Keep America Beautiful, Metro Beautification provided posters for Hillsboro Village merchants to display in their windows and limited supplies of pocket ashtrays for customers.

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Smokers take heat for dumping cigarette butts 

A monthlong initiative in Hillsboro Village this fall, complete with signs and cigarette-butt receptacles, reduced the cigarette trash by about 40 percent, according to the Metro Beautification and Environment Commission. The effort was made possible by a $1,500 grant.

The commission is looking for other areas of town to take part in the program and says that just about anywhere could use it.

"It's horrible," said Barbara Mathieson, Metro Beautification chairwoman, describing what she and her husband found on a hike from Bellevue to downtown.

"It looked like someone had paved the sides of the road with cigarette butts," Mathieson said. "It kind of hit me in the face with the problem."

The slovenly practice, which the $50 fine in Tennessee has not halted, is not exclusive to the South.

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VOTE: £20,000 scheme to hand out portable ashtrays in Bolton  

Bolton Council has launched a “behavioural change” crackdown on litter louts who drop their cigarette butts in the street.

Town hall bosses hope to combat the problem with a poster campaign aimed at educating smokers and by handing out portable ashtray pouches that people can use to cleanly dispose of their stubs.

The poster contains a simple “Love Bolton, hate litter” message on a black background, with the letter “L” in litter replaced by a cigarette end.

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• Falmouth voters OK ban on beach smoking  

Voters at last night's town meeting gave a big thumbs down to those who like to light up on the town's public beaches.

Smoking is no longer allowed on any of the town's 11 public beaches, following a 128-60 vote that makes Falmouth the third community on the Cape to snuff out smoking on municipal beaches. Proponents of the ban cited litter in the form of errant cigarette butts in the sand, as well as the harm caused by secondhand smoke, as the main reasons to pass the smoking ban warrant item. . . .

In the end, a majority of town meeting voters said they were tired of "inconsiderate" people on the beach who refuse to move even after complaints and throw cigarette filters in the sand, where young children often find them while building sand castles.

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VIDEO: Heavy smoking on Mass. college campuses  

22News takes a hard look at cigarette smoking on Western Massachusetts college campuses.

This after a cigarette butt clean up on the Amherst campus of the University of Massachusetts yielded thousands of cigarette butts this weekend.

And that's just the butts that weren't properly discarded.

Students attending Holyoke Community College told 22News, "It's tough not becoming a smoker in this day and age. Holly Frederick told 22News "she started smoking because her father smokes". Nick Duclos told 22News, "It's hard not lighting up when all your friends are smokers".

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Fined £700 – for dropping cigarette butt 

A RUGELEY mum-of-two who threw a cigarette butt out of her car window has told of her 'shock' – after a court ordered her to pay a whopping £727 for littering.

Marie Elson, aged 42, of Newman Grove, tossed the cigarette end onto the road during a school run to Fair Oak Business and Enterprise College.

But she was spotted by two environmental officers from Cannock Chase Council.

"At the end of the day I do not dispute what I did – but I was just shocked by the amount," Marie told the Mercury this week. . . .

But she admitted she did not realise the seriousness of the offence.

And because of family commitments and health problems, she failed to turn up at Stafford Magistrates' Court on April 30 and did not enter a plea by post.

She was found guilty in her absence and fined £350 for dropping the cigarette end and £200 for failing to pay the fixed penalty notice. She also has to pay £162 in costs and a victim surcharge of £15 – a total of £727.

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No Butts About It Day at UMass 

Volunteers and students at UMass Amherst helped pick up cigarette butts around campus Sunday.

It was the 4th annual “No Butts About It Day” at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where members of the community hunt for and dispose of cigarette butts littering the campus.

The event is organized by the Student Health Advisory Board at University Health Services. . . .

Last year 12 pounds of cigarette butts were picked up in just three hours.

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FAQ 

What is a cigarette butt?

What is a cigarette filter and why?

How many filtered cigarettes are deposited into the environment each year?

What is the cost of cleaning up filers from a typical environment?

Have animals or humans been poisoned by cigarette butts?

Are cigarette butts toxic hazardous waste?

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Information 

Discarded cigarette butts (mainly the filter) 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 each year in international beach cleanups. 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 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.

Several options are available to reduce the environmental impact of cigarette filter waste, including:

* Developing biodegradable filters

* Increasing fines and penalties for littering butts

* Monetary deposits on filters

* Increasing availability of butt receptacles

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