Unfortunately cigarette butts are all around us: in the high street, outside our offices, on our beaches & floating in our oceans. Sadly many smokers think that they are made of paper & are therefore biodegradable - sadly this is not the case.

Did you know?

• An estimated 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are littered worldwide, each year.
• It takes about 7 seconds to read the above sentence & in those 7 seconds approximately another 1 million have been dropped. That's 142,000 every second, of every day.

Really? How do you know that, if it is an estimated figure?

• Fact: 'Disposing of cigarettes on the ground or out of a car, is so common, that 75 percent of smokers report doing it.'
• Fact: That makes cigarette butts THE most littered item worldwide.

So why is that a problem? Aren't they made of paper?

• Fact: No that's the problem...
• A cigarette filter is made of tiny plastic fibres - 95% of it in fact (cellulose acetate).

Oh no, not more plastic

• Unfortunately not, a cigarette butt also contains toxic chemicals & metals...
• Fact:One cigarette butt soaked in 1 litre of water, killed half of the fish exposed in a study in a laboratory (both fresh & salt water fish).
  Source: 'Toxcity of cigarette butts & their chemical components, to marine life & freshwater fish' Tobacco Control 2011

Sounds frightening! What harmful chemicals & metals?

• Unfortunately not, a cigarette butt also contains toxic chemicals & metals...
• Fact:Cigarette butts contain toxic chemicals such as arsenic (used to kill rats) and lead. They also include other 'lovely' toxic chemicals & metals such as:
• Cadmium
• Zinc
• Tar & of course...
• Nicotine
• & many more

So how do we deal with this?
Raising awareness is key. Recently I posted some information on my personal Instagram & several smokers contacted me shocked, asking for more information on the chemical content of filters.
Also, highlighting the sheer number has surprised people. I walked along our local beach collecting for 1 hour each day, over 5 days. I picked up a total of 1342.
https://www.facebook.com/nomascolillasenelsuelo/ is a great Facebook page raising awareness of cigarette butt littering across Spain & various educational initiatives.
#binthebutt is also another great initiative in the UK by www.Keepbritaintidy.org