Cigarette butts. They’re everywhere. Every major city, every street corner, layered into the soil and obstructing rivers.
Last year, 93.2 billion cigarettes were consumed by the 110 million smokers across India. Many of these cigarettes are left on the street, where they are swept away into gutters, rivers and into dumps.
Contrary to popular belief, cigarette butts aren’t made of cotton, and they’re not biodegradable. They’re actually made of plastics, containing harmful chemicals that seep into the environment. About 4.5 trillion butts are thrown out around the world annually.
Studies show toxins in the cigarette butts kill fish and other small animals. Some companies are developing more ecologically friendly and biodegradable cigarette butts, but these filters are not part of the mainstream.
And though throwing cigarettes in the bin rather than on the ground can cut down on some of the impact of smoking, the cigarette industry remains heavily polluting – from the pesticides, fungicides, and insecticides in tobacco production, to the smoke that escapes a smoker’s lips.
It will take more than a bin to change the global consequences of smoking.