Opinion: the environment impact of cigarettes
Our tenant Richard from Woodcote discusses the environmental impact of cigarettes:
Cigarettes
Over 15 billion cigarettes are purchased every day by the 1 billion-plus people around the world who continue to smoke. This number is more likely to increase than decrease. Each year cigarettes are the source of 90,000 fires in the USA. Globally they are one of the primary causes of forest fires. Their effect on the seas and oceans is enormous.
Filters
There is no such thing as a safe filter. A filter is a type of plastic (cellulose acetate), which degrades slowly over several years. Each filter contains 12,000 cellulose acetate fibres that may be inhaled straight into the lungs, and may themselves cause respiratory problems.
Butts
Please do not simply throw cigarette butts on to the ground. Discarded cigarette butts not only detract from the pleasantness of our surroundings, they also have a hugely harmful impact on the environment across the world. Butts exceed, by far, any other form of litter collected from beaches, and worldwide, they account for an astonishing 845 tons of litter annually.
Butts get washed into rivers via drains and as part of general waste outpourings, frequently mistaken for food by fish, seabirds and turtles.
In addition, they are often found in the stomachs of dead animals found washed up on the beach. The chemicals absorbed by filters from smoking a cigarette, predominantly nicotine and ethylphenol, are highly toxic and a single butt per litre of water concentration is enough to kill small fish. The 5 trillion butts thrown away each year would make all of the water in China’s Three Gorges Dam deadly for aquatic life. Eaten or not! So, now you know, and no ‘butts’ about it!
Source: BBC Science Magazine, April 2022. Please note this is a personal opinion and does not necessarily represent the views of Broadland Housing.