TIL Cigarette butts are the most common form of plastic pollution
Cigarette butts are the most abundant form of plastic waste in the world, with about 4.5 trillion individual butts polluting our environment.
If you needed yet another reason to quit smoking, here it is.
I live in the US and it's becoming more and more unusual in many places to see people smoking. As a result, I see fewer discarded cigarette butts than ever. Still not zero, but getting there.
It's the hardest thing about traveling to Europe for me. I love being in Europe, but after living in a part of the US with almost no smokers it is jarring to smell cigarette smoke everywhere on the streets there.
I live in the U.S. too and I still see a ton here in Indiana, but we also apparently have a nicotine addiction epidemic here that no one talks about much.
As of 2022:
Nearly 29% of Indiana adults currently use tobacco. Combustible cigarettes are the most used tobacco product, followed by e-cigarettes.
I remember when I left Indiana 25 years ago that it was the highest per capita state for smoking, with Kentucky being number 2.
I don’t know what the rate is here in Massachusetts, but it’s rare to have to smell cigarettes these days. I really think we’re more likely to (and my kids complain about the stench) encounter pot smokers these days. I can’t help but think that’s a good thing … but have to follow up each with an obligatory dad lecture on the health concerns with putting burning anything in your lungs
Edit: West Virginia, of course
It's one of those big cultural shifts that has gone on in my life slowly but steadily. I recall my school bus driver would smoke doing his rounds, people smoking almost everywhere, even grocery stores. My family had lots of smokers, 3 out of my 4 grandparents smoked, all paid the piper, the habit led to their demise. Vending machines selling cigarettes everywhere. I recall it first was restricted on airplanes, with smoking sections separated with curtains, then in restaurants. A lot of it was ineffective and mostly symbolic, but then the biggest change was when California banned almost all indoor smoking in businesses, other states followed suit over the next decade. That combined with all the legal problems the tobacco industry had in the 90s has really caused a dramatic shift.
Is it just being replaced by other equally bad habits? I just found out that disposable vape pens are a thing. Those have plastics and electronics inside. I have no idea what the numbers there are.
Although vaping has become really big, there's a lot more people quitting smoking than there are picking up vaping.
And vaping is not equally bad by a long shot. Cigarettes are far worse for you. Also, vaping isn't nearly as annoying for the people around the user. I say all this as a cigarette smoker myself.
Those disposable vapes are disgustingly wasteful. Apparently you can take them apart and make them reusable or repurpose the battery, but very few people are going to mess with that.
I never see people smoking in the Puget Sound area. I saw people smoking all over NYC when I was there.
If you know people at the right bodega you can get them much cheaper because they're illegally imported from the south. Additionally, if someone is working in NYC they probably make better money than people in most other places, so $15 to them isn't the same as $15 to me.
I was in the city a few years ago and my (latino in appearance) co-worker told me about a shop where he got some cheap packs. I (white in appearance) went to the shop about an hour later and was sold New York cigarettes at a ball-busting price. That's just the reality some places.
If you're curious, you can look at the bottom of the cellophane to find the tax stamp, which will tell you the state they were taxed for sale in
I love smoking. I know it's killing me. I realize it stinks to other people. I never smoke indoors. I try my best to be considerate of others and never throw my butts on the ground.
But it's getting a bit ridiculous the demonizing of smokers in the US. If I walk to the edge of a business's property where there is literally no one and smoke a cigarette, I shouldn't be harassed by cops or security to cross the street, go several blocks away, or similar.
I thought tires were responsible for like 25% of micro plastics.
Never mind. I just read what I wrote, and realized they're two different things.
I also had the idea that fishing nets were the most common sea plastic.
Aren’t microplastics from car tires more common?
I thought so too, and maybe they are using a different metric in this article, but I couldn't tell you since their source URL is a deadline.......
I also remember Coke, Pepsi, and Nestle being claimed as the highest plastic polluters as well.
This article is quite likely fake news. The first paper cited only says they're the most common pollution on beaches.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0013935119300787
Presumably plastic pollution is a superset of microplastic pollution
Just ban the filter. Let them smoke raw and unfiltered.
We should go back to using natural materials for filters, like asbestos. /s
Smoking with a filter has no health benefits. Statistically, there are even more illnesses with people that smoke with filter cause they on average smoke more cause it irritates the throat less.
Our local cancer NGO even lobbied to ban filtered sigarettes as they cause more smoking and are plastic litter.
Being very cynical, how does killing them faster not lessen the burden on society at large? It's a burden I'm glad we choose to bear, but just literally mathematically, the amount spent worldwide on treating people with smoking damage is astronomical.
Pretty typical response these days. "jUsT BaN iT!"
Dislike smoking but realize that for addicts often public infrastructure doesn't give you a lot of options for getting rid of butts. Seems like biodegradable butts should be mandatory. On the other hand I will lean into my horn if I see someone throwing butts out of their car. That is inexcusable - get an ashtray for your vehicle.
I mean, who cares? It's the smokers' problem? If you can't dispose of your trash take it with you or stop producing it until you can. That's true for any trash.
We expect people to carry doggie bags, too. Just clean up after yourself.
I realize that's idealistic and it's never going to happen because smokers be littering, but it makes me mad regardless.
When I smoked I always put my butts in my pocket.
It's not hard to pick up after yourself. Put the cig out, and instead of dropping it on the ground put it in your pocket. If thats too stinky carry a sandwich bag or dog poop bag for them.
Now that that's out of the way, it's interesting that birds have been using cigarette butts to line their nests. Turns out nicotine is a great miticide. Hopefully it's not hurting them in the long run, which is why we should pick up our fucking garbage.
flicking your cigarette into the void was completely normal every place that i lived in the US. it isn't thought about or frowned upon. it's simply part of the ritual of having a cigarette.
For many smokers, the world is their ashtray.
That is a State of mind perhaps, but frankly illegal in many places
public infrastructure doesn't give you a lot of options for getting rid of butts
It's literally the same infrastructure as for every other kind of litter: a bin. Just stamp it out and throw it away. If there isn't a bin take it with you and throw it out later. Before I quit smoking I had a small plastic vial with a screw lid that I collected the butts in for later disposal. A small jar, dedicated pocket ash tray or in a pinch even a plastic bag or simply a pocket would work too. It's really not that hard.
I realise you're probably not one of the people who litter their cigarette butts, but you still shouldn't be making excuses for people who do. Throwing cigarettes on the ground is no better than any other kind of littering. And while I'm at it: the same goes for bottle caps.
I wish that was the only need...Ive worked with people who didn't want to walk 5 feet to the ashtray and prefered to flick their butts on the floor, at coffee shops with an outside area most people ignore the ashtrays and just flick it to the street...people are lazy
And as the article already says what’s even worse is the cocktail of chemicals in those filters which are even more harmful than simple PET and the like.
Some exec at RJ Reynolds in the 40's
"The damn government is making us take asbestos out of the filters. What can we put instead?"
"I know, how bout some space aged plastic!"
That's crazy! I didn't even realize they had plastic in them. Makes you wonder how many inconspicuous everyday items have the potential to become plastic waste.
Car tires are supposed to be bad. I remember reading each loses ~1kg in pulverised plastic dust over the lifetime?
Luckily, at least some of that is filtered from the air by people's lungs.
That we know of, I bet microplastics is actually worse but we can’t measure it in aggregate well.
I wasn’t aware cigarettes contained any plastic at all
The filters are basically all plastic except the paper around them.
So many people don't realise the reality of cigarette waste.
"It's just one small butt" adds up to:
"It's just paper and cotton" - NOPE:
"Rain will wash it away" - Yeah, right into:
"At least it's not toxic" - Actually:
I knew about the first part and the third and fourth, but I had no idea that it also contributed so much to plastic pollution.
Yeah it's crazy. It's definitely not something most people associate with plastic.