Let’s talk about something that’s absolutely hate-worthy: litter. Ever sit behind someone at a red light and watch them toss their trash out the window? What irresponsible behavior. Know what’s thrown out most often? The world’s most littered item? If the picture didn’t give it away, the answer is cigarette butts. TRILLIONS of them are carelessly tossed every year. Do not adjust your screen. TRILLIONS.
Someone has a sense of humor, but the problem is a serious one.
Cigarette filters are composed of a type of plastic called acetate. Plastic doesn’t biodegrade very quickly. In fact, cigarette filters take about twenty-five years to decompose. What happens to them in the meantime? Wind and rain carry them into gutters and storm sewers and ultimately into the water supply. Along the way various chemicals that filters are designed to trap – deadly toxins like nicotine and cyanide – make their way into aquatic ecosystems (where things live that we eventually eat) and ultimately into the water supply. The amounts per filter may be trivial, but multiply them by the trillions and the poisons in the environment really add up.
Cigarette filters have been found in the stomachs of fish, birds, whales and other marine creatures who mistake them for food. Countless fires, indoors and out, are started by cigarettes, which are the #1 cause of fire=related death and injury in the U.S. But let’s stay on point: this is about litter. If you smoke, please don’t contribute to the problem. Use an ashtray. When the butts are cold, throw them in the trash. Don’t flush them down the toilet or toss them “out.”
On this planet, there is no “out.”