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· Litter
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· Tennessee
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Jump to full article: The Tennessean, 2009-11-14
Author: Jessica Moerman Departmental Honors Thesis The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Intro: 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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