Of the cigarette variety:
By one estimate, around two-thirds of the 6 trillion cigarettes smoked worldwide every year end up being dropped, flicked or dumped into the environment – around 750,000 tonnes in total. … Used cigarette butts are not just pieces of non-biodegradable plastic. They also contain the carcinogens, nicotine and toxins found in all tobacco products. We have found that one cigarette butt soaked in a litre of water for 96 hours leaches out enough toxins to kill half of the fresh or salt water fish exposed to them.
And Thomas Novotny adds this shocking revelation: “We have also found that the tobacco industry has thoroughly distanced itself from any sense of responsibility.” The industry initially created filters for comfort but misled people into thinking they made the cigs less harmful:
Filters were originally designed to keep loose tobacco out of smokers’ mouths, not to protect their health. So they are really a marketing tool. They seem to reassure smokers that they are doing something to limit the health consequences of smoking and thus may discourage them from quitting. They also make smoking more palatable and make it easier for children to start. The ventilation provided by the filter may reduce the tar and nicotine yields of cigarettes as measured by a machine, but smokers compensate by changing their puffing behaviour and inhaling more deeply.
For these reasons, filters may be considered a health hazard. If their purpose is simply to market cigarettes and make it easier to get addicted, they should be banned.
Or maybe just better labeled? Update from a reader:
Discarded butts is such a pet peeve of mine. Many people who are otherwise more than decent enough not to throw any other sort of litter onto the ground will casually toss their cigarette butts anywhere without a second thought.
I’ve got a young daughter who’s just emerging from the “pick up anything you can find and put it in your mouth” phase, so putting her down on the ground to run around is like tossing her in a cigarette butt minefield in so many public places. In front of a restaurant, on almost any sidewalk, even in a public park, butts are laying around everywhere. She doesn’t know any better, but I sure as hell don’t want those filthy things in her hands or her mouth.
The Dish 