Cigarette butts aren`t biodegradable, they`re toxic to the environment

The other day I was walking outside our building and a couple of women were outside smoking. As I approached, one of them finished her cigarette and without even thinking, threw it into the street. According to the environmental group, A Greener Future, 4.5 trillion filters are littered each year. Cigarette butts often make their way into the waterways and as they slowly dissolve, they release nicotine, arsenic and lead. Cigarette butts are often mistaken for food by animals, fragments of cigarette filters have been found in 70% of seabirds and 30% of sea turtles. Many smokers think that filters are biodegradable or made of cotton, and some just prefer to throw cigarette butts on the ground instead of putting them into a garbage can, even when one is 15 feet away. If you’re a smoker, be responsible and always put your butt in an ashtray or garbage.

Cigarette butts litter waterways

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