Cigarette Butt Litter

After reading the Keep America Beautiful report on litter and thinking more about the toll it takes on our economy and our communities, I have been more focused and more observant about litter. We followed-up on Friday with a meeting with the Keep America Beautiful folks and spoke further about their programs and one of the issues that was specifically mentioned was cigarette butt litter. While I have seen more than my share of cigarette butts out in the field, I was unaware that 1 in 5 pieces of litter is actually a cigarette butt.

After our meeting, I did a little more research and looking around and found an LA Times article "Fuming Over Cigarette Butt Litter" (written by David Lazarus, November 30, 2008) citing that the City of Los Angeles picks up 600,000 cigarette butts a month and more than 7 million butts per year.

Virginia Beach exceeded its budget to clean storm drains by $3,000,000.00 and a significant portion of this amount was due to cigarette butts.

Once in the environment, it is important to remember that cigarette butts don't disappear. 95% of all butts are made from cellulose acetate that don't break down. Butts easily travel through storm drains and end up in local rivers, lakes and streams. Ultimately, they can be mistaken as food and pose a threat to marine and wildlife.

Cigarette butts are a significant source of pollution. While education and access to proper ashtrays/disposal is key, cigarette butt littering is rampant. While we have never been approached specifically to target cigarette butts, this is one of the types of trash that we can prevent from entering the stormwater systems.

For more information about cigarette litter, click here
For a look at how we can help you improve your storm water quality, click here