Not Plastic, Cigarette Butts Are Main Culprits Polluting The Ocean

Not plastic straws, cigarette butts have been recently proven as the main culprit which causes the most damage to our oceans.

Plastic straws, as well as other plastic products, have had a bad impact on the environment. That’s why a lot of stores all around the world are not using this material with the hope of reducing the severe air pollution. However, we seem to forget a type of pollutant that is even more hazardous.

That is cigarette butts!

NBC News reported that cigarette butts deserve the worst among the pollutants for the environment. Plastic straws are undeniably toxic, but not so much as cigarette butts.

According to NBC News, the above conclusion is drawn into a campaign called the Cigarette Butt Pollution Project conducted by a US tobacco industry academic, worldwide surfing organization, and an assemblyman in California. The campaign aims to gather activists and enhance consciousness about the damage of smoking towards human health as well as towards the environment.

Although cigarette butts are proven to pollute the environment the most, banning everyone to smoke cigarettes is totally unfeasible! And hence, the group has looked for another solution: Forbid cigarette filters. These filters’ material is cellulose acetate – a type of plastic product which can only be decomposed after at least 10 years.

The report also revealed that among 5.6 trillion annually manufactured filtered cigarettes, more than two-thirds are thrown away in the wrong place and finally, they are pushed into the oceans.

According to the public health professor Thomas Novotny, smokers have the fake awareness about the hazardous level of filtered cigarettes to their lungs. In fact, it’s marketing that makes us mislead and as a result, smokers will smoke more.

The Ocean Conservancy group listed that people have gathered over 60 million cigarette butts on the beaches for 32 years. They don’t only originate from smokers on the beaches but also from rivers, drains, and streams. More importantly, they become the food of a lot of sea creatures. For example, pieces of cigarette butts have been found in the stomach of 70% of seabirds and 30% of sea turtles.

Being afraid of taking responsibility for the bad effects cigarettes brings to human health and environment, tobacco companies have been in research of biodegradable filters and expanded the installation of public ashtrays. However, these activities haven’t shown the effectiveness as expected due to smokers’ hobby to throw butts away recklessly.