When cigarette butts become litter, they have a negative impact on the environment. The filters are made of a plastic that can take up to 10 years to decompose.
Jump to full article: Christian Science Monitor, 2009-11-18
Author: The Editors of E Magazine
Intro: 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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