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Cigarette Waste Facts

Ten things you should know about cigarette butt litter:

1. Cigarette butt litter is the world's greatest environmental litter problem
 
2. Globally, approximately 4.3 trillion cigarette butts are littered every year. Smokers in the USA account for over 250 billion cigarette butts, in the UK 200 tonnes of butts are discarded, and Australian smokers litter over 7 billion cigarette butts annually. In most Western countries cigarette butt litter accounts for around 50% of all litter.
 
3. Almost 1 in 3 cigarette butts end up as litter.
 
4. Cigarette butt litter dramatically increases where indoor smoking bans are implemented.
 
5. In Australia, NSW smokers throw away enough butts to fill 7 Olympic swimming pools. Up to 350,000 butts end up in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria and waterways every day.
 
6. It can take up to 12 years for a cigarette butt to break down.
 
7. Cigarette butts can leach chemicals such as cadmium, lead and arsenic into our marine environment within an hour of contact with water.
 
8. Cigarette butts have been found in the stomachs of fish, whales, birds and other marine animals which leads to ingestion of hazardous chemicals and digestive blockages.
 
9. Smokers in many countries can be fined for flicking a lit cigarette.
 
10. And the final and most important thing to know about cigarette butt litter is: Only smokers can stop cigarette butt litter. We need to educate them that butts are litter, and provide a positive alternative to littering.
 
This website is designed to show you how to participate in Ecolad's global eliminate cigarette campaigns that assist entire communities to reduce cigarette butt litter, Our goal is to implement sustainable solutions that see individual smokers taking financial and personal responsibility for their litter. Our campaigns engage smokers and non-smokers alike.






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