Cigarette Butts: The Silent Pandemic

Annually, 7.4 billion cigarettes are consumed globally, with an approximate daily consumption of 20.3 million. More than 7 million deaths are associated with smoking annually, while related issues include the deaths of animals, and the contamination of rivers and soil, among others.

Undoubtedly, the data is alarming, even more so given the heightened focus in the last decade on warning of the dangers related to tobacco consumption and considering the great efforts that some have made to implement measures to discourage access to tobacco. There have been recommendations to raise taxes on tobacco sales, while laws have established the creation of smoke-free zones, displays of warnings on cigarette packaging and the prohibition of advertising and promotion of tobacco, among other measures. None of these, however, speaks to the serious problems and degradation that tobacco use causes our planet, not to mention the increases in emissions of CO2 from the consumption of tobacco and its derivatives.

But there is a super-alarming fact that no statistics point to, nor is it considered within the plans of cigarette companies, much less governments:: What to do with cigarette butts? One study suggests  that 98% of people, once they finish smoking their cigarette, throw the butt away, on the ground or wherever they please and without consequences for the company or the consumer.

Every year around the world, there are hundreds of forest fires due to cigarette butts and their mismanagement, adding to the serious problem of flooding because cigarette butts can also clog sewers.

Cigarette butts are mini toxic bombs that seriously affect our planet and its inhabitants (flora and fauna) without anyone doing anything about it.  Just imagine that a cigarette butt can contaminate more than 1,000 liters of water, mainly with cobalt, aluminum, arsenic, nickel, tar, lead and strontium. This is in addition to the paper residue that remains in the filter.

This contamination data is extremely alarming because every year, cigarette butts contaminate more than 700 billion liters in the world, resulting in irreversible damage to our planet, let alone the more than 7 million deaths as a consequence of the use of tobacco and its derivatives.

These residues are small and it is inevitable that they will be dragged into drains, by the wind or rain, and end up in streams, rivers and oceans, leading to the consequences that we have already mentioned.

If they remain on the ground, their effect is also negative because they alter pH and ground composition, inhibiting and preventing the life of microorganisms, insects and animals. As if that were not enough, there is a risk that they enter the body indirectly through the food chain and cause adverse effects on the health of both humans and animals, in addition to the danger to plants, rivers, and trees, among others.

The irresponsibility of the tobacco industry and governments is brutal. As if it were not problematic enough that there are so few or no containers on the streets to dispose of  cigarette butts, there is also no awareness campaign to NOT throw cigarette butts into the streets. Just watch any movie or TV series and you are certain to run into a character who, after finishing his or her cigarette, throws the residue onto the public road as if it means nothing, assuming that this action is acceptable.

Recently, I spent time looking to implement projects with different tobacco companies. Each time led to a refusal on the basis of similar arguments: the law does not ask me to, we have no budget, we are not interested, among so many excuses these companies give for not assuming their responsibility as the cause of the greatest contamination of soil and rivers.

I hope that the governments of the world will see the importance of creating  awareness campaigns to not throw cigarette butts on the street and demand that tobacco companies make a considerable investment in butt collection systems as well as greater investment in financing the conservation of natural systems.

We cannot continue turning a blind eye to cigarette butts as an international security problem. The effects are already visible on our planet and not taking immediate action will bring great consequences. The problem is not smoking, but the  disposal of the waste on the ground and in forests, rivers,and seas. Let's be responsible and also make sure to say something when we see someone  throwing a cigarette butt on the ground.

Say no to through cigarette butts on the ground.

"The environmental consequences of tobacco consumption move it from being an individual problem to being a human problem," said Oleg Chestnov, deputy director general of the WHO, in a report. “It's not just about the lives of smokers and those around them, or even those involved in tobacco production. What is now at stake is the fate of an entire planet.”