Getting Cigarette Butts off our Beaches

Ever since the 1950s, plastic has been our consumer product of choice and so it is no surprise that the most littered item worldwide is made partially from plastic. Can you guess what it is? This item has been at the top of beach polluter lists since the 1980s and can be seen blighting our beaches, parks and pavements all over the world. The answer? Cigarette butts.

Whilst the majority of a cigarette is made from paper and tobacco, the filter sneakily contains around 12,000 plastic fibres, each thinner than a sewing thread and definitely not biodegradable. Whilst smoking and chewing tobacco have been common habits in society for thousands of years, it wasn’t until stories of lung diseases started reaching the newspapers that filters were introduced in the 1950s. At this time, the average American was smoking 4,000 cigarettes a year, up from only 54 per year at the beginning of the century. Fast forward to today’s world where filters are still a standard part of the cigarette and whilst people don’t smoke quite as much as they used to, our global population still buys 18 billion of these products every day. Then, with that automatic flick, two-thirds of the unwanted butts are littered into our environment where wind and rain wash them into our drains and waterways, carrying them to a temporary resting place on our shores. Here, they are inevitably carried away with the next tide and filters spend the next 10 years of life degrading in the ocean. However, they do not degrade to nothingness but rather sunlight breaks them down into thousands of tiny microplastics which hide invisibly under the waves.

The impact of microplastics on our marine wildlife can be devastating as they inadvertently consume these man-made materials which contain no nutrients but make them feel full all the same. Even before butts degrade, many animals confuse these light floating objects with a tasty snack, with seabirds having been witnessed taking butts back to their nests to feed chicks and whilst these items have also been found in dead turtles, dolphins and fish. In some individuals, these plastics and chemicals build up in the tissues of the body and when the animal is eaten by a predator, this toxic load is passed on in a process known as bio-accumulation, meaning those at the top of the food chain can have dangerously high levels of pollutants in their body. And let’s not forget ourselves, as these chemicals can be in the fish we catch and place on our supermarket shelves.

And of course, it is not only the plastic in cigarettes that are a pollutant but the toxic chemicals they contain. Tobacco smoke contains 7,000 identified chemicals, such as nicotine, arsenic and heavy metals, with 70 of these substances known to cause cancer in not only humans but animals as well. There are a range of other negative effects too, with studies finding rainbow trout weighing less after being exposed to water containing waste cigarettes. Another study placed a cigarette butt in a bucket filled with one litre of water and the chemicals from that one butt killed half the fish present in the bucket. This intensive host of chemicals is also known to inhibit plant growth, showing that species across the whole food chain are affected.

If the cigarettes themselves weren’t enough trouble, there is also the issue of discarded lighters, tossed away in anger when they unexpectedly stop working. Albatrosses in particular seem to favour foraging for plastic lighters as they resemble the squid beaks which usually make up their diet. These are taken back to the nests and fed to their chicks alongside a range of other plastic debris. Of course, we now have the problem of e-cigarettes too, with their sturdy plastic casings, hazardous nicotine components and electronic circuit boards making it anyone’s guess which recycling bin these should be placed in, with part of the problem lying with manufacturers not providing any information about correct disposal practices. Then of course there are the thousands of single use plastic encased refills as well. With vaping increasing almost 400% between 2015-2020, many are saying this litter could soon overtake the cigarette butt crisis and with flammable lithium batteries involved, this could be an even bigger environmental threat. These batteries contain chemicals which are harmful to the environment, such as cobalt, nickel and manganese, with studies already finding a link between lithium and malformation in some marine creatures.

There are a whole range of projects taking place around the world to solve this problem however, with their leaders eager for the day that cigarette butts fall from the top spot on the beach polluter list. For example, the Marine Conservation Society and Keep Scotland Beautiful are working together to convince the Scottish government that plastic cigarette filters should be included in their single use plastic ban alongside plastic cotton buds and straws. Whilst cigarette companies have sold plastic filters as a healthier way of smoking, research has revealed that filters actually make no difference to the ingestion of chemicals whilst maybe even increasing the negative health effects. In fact, cigarette manufacturers have been investigating an alternative to plastic filters but no design has even really caught light, despite this design process starting in the 1970s. In amongst the inventions are biodegradable butts made from flax, hemp and cotton but the big companies don’t seem to be accepting these ideas yet. Maybe if laws were introduced banning non-biodegradable filters we would finally see change. 

Some countries have already turned to the law in a hope to make a difference, with France set to charge tobacco manufacturers 80 million euros a year which will contribute to the clean up of the 23 billion butts which are littered in the country each year. Meanwhile, some areas of America, such as Beverley Hills, have banned the sale of all tobacco products in their city limits while New Jersey has rolled out smoking bans in their parks and beaches. Another idea urges cigarettes to be labelled as hazardous waste which therefore makes the retailer responsible for disposal, something already seen for other dangerous rubbish such as batteries, electronics and paint.

Others, have been a little more inventive with their solutions. England has innovatively created the idea of a ballot bin. The tested ballot bin consisted of two clear containers with the question above reading ‘who is the best footballer player?’. Butts could then be used to vote between Ronaldo and Messi, leading to a 46% reduction in litter in the area although potential an increase in arguments. Although the idea of disposing butts in the bin and not under our feet is a simple one, campaigns urging smokers to bin their litter just don’t seem to be breaking this decades old habit. Maybe it will be the more inventive schemes which finally work and help reduce the number of butts flaunting themselves on our beaches and sunning themselves on road verges.

As for e-cigarettes, consumers are urged to choose re-usable vape pens with rechargeable batteries, helping reduce the amount of the waste created. Once your vape does reach the end of its life, taking it apart if possible and recycling the separate components or disposing of them safely stops harmful chemicals ending up in the ocean. For example, did you know that the e-liquid should not be poured down the drain as it can contaminate water supplies and pose a hazard to wildlife? Many e-cigarette retailers now accept used batteries for recycling whilst maybe soon, refill containers for vape liquid will become an everyday item, massively reducing single use plastic. Once again however, all these actions would be easier if laws set out a standard process for the correct disposal of e-cigarette related waste. It seems if we want to kick cigarette butts from their number one spot on the beach and prevent e-cigarettes ever getting there, we need progress occurring on every level, from the government to industry leaders to individuals.

By Neve McCracken-Heywood