How I Collected 1,000 Cigarette Butts

I never smoked. I guess it’s because of the smell, … The post How I Collected 1,000 Cigarette Butts appeared first on Earth911.com.

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How I Collected 1,000 Cigarette Butts

Cigarette butts, the No. 1 most-littered item, are impacting plant growth

In the frenzy to ban plastic utensils, foam containers, straws and single-use bags, the world’s No. 1 most-littered item has been mostly ignored: cigarette butts. Perhaps because they are small in size, two out of every three cigarettes are simply flung to the ground rather than properly disposed of. This adds up to 4.5 trillion cigarette butts every year piling up in parks, cities and oceans. New research suggests that the butts are not just unsightly; they are also negatively impacting plants. A study published in Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety compared plants grown in soil containing cigarette butts with a group of control plants and found a significant difference. The plants grown in dirt with cigarettes had shoots that were up to 25 percent shorter with root biomass that was up to 60 percent smaller. Similar studies from as early as 1913 found similarly negative effects of cigarette smoke on plants , but few focus on the impact of butts within the soil. Related: California’s “Butt Lady” picks up 1M littered cigarette butts in 3.5 years Cigarettes are actually biodegradable but can take years to decompose. In the meantime, the discarded butts are filled with chemicals that, at this point, everyone knows are toxic and carcinogenic. Since the 1980s, urban and coastal clean-up events have reported that between 30 to 40 percent of the litter collected is typically cigarette butts. It is clearly a major issue in terms of pollution and waste, so why aren’t people outraged by it? Some environmental advocates argue that filters should be banned completely, since they have negligible health benefits to the smoker. Others argue that a deposit-and-return system could be established, where smokers must return their used butts in order to reclaim a deposit. This scheme seems fairly unlikely, but so did bans on plastic bags or diapers — yet municipalities and countries have successfully put them into effect. + Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety Via Phys.org Image via Pixabay

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Cigarette butts, the No. 1 most-littered item, are impacting plant growth

California’s "Butt Lady picks up 1,000,000 littered cigarette butts in 3.5 years

Cigarette butts account for an estimated 1.69 billion pounds of trash produced worldwide annually, a good number of which never even find their way into proper trash receptacles. Instead, most of them are ingested by aquatic creatures, wildlife, and pets, or simply left to languish in streets everywhere as litter. Sick and tired of seeing her town of Auburn, California marred by the toxic trash , resident Sally Dawly decided that she would make it her aim to pick up every stray butt she encountered—and keep count while at it. Incredibly, after 3.5 years, Dawly has collected over one million thoughtlessly discarded cigarette butts. “I got tired of going on my walks and seeing cigarette butts everywhere,” Dawly told her local news station. “I’m just overwhelmed and shocked that I had to pick up this many. I keep track on a daily basis of how many I pick up and I just keep going.” Related: This startup is training crows to throw away cigarette butt litter To keep count, Dawly uses a clicker. In her tackle, she also carries a broom, a pair of tongs, and a dustpan, all of which are put to good use daily. “I’ve had days where I’ve picked up 3,000 butts, in one day,” she says, “and it’s like, come on people. Don’t throw your butts, better yet, stop smoking.” The anti-littering activist picked up her first butt in October, 2014, and on  Valentine’s Day , she hit her historic milestone of 1 million cigarette butts. But she has no plans on stopping there and has already set a new goal to collect 2 million cigarette butts. Her story has also inspired countless others to join the effort to keep streets butt-free. In Auburn, cigarette receptacles have been installed outside bars and around the city, and locals consider her a bit of a local hero. As she approached 1 million butts, a number came out to cheer her on. They are also the ones who lovingly bestowed the name “Butt Lady” upon her. Via Oddity Central Lead image via Deposit Photos , others screencaps via CBS news

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California’s "Butt Lady picks up 1,000,000 littered cigarette butts in 3.5 years

No butts: The campaign to reduce, recycle cigarette waste

TerraCycle says it can make an impact against the ever-growing mountain of cigarette butts. While the campaign has gotten approval from tobacco manufacturers, there are doubts about whether it will be effective.

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No butts: The campaign to reduce, recycle cigarette waste

A 22 Year Rids Paris of Cigarette Butts By Hand, Makes a Dress, and Saves the Rainforest

Image Courtesy of Le Mégot Défi . Flore’s map of where’s she’s made collections. Click here for an enlarged image and details

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A 22 Year Rids Paris of Cigarette Butts By Hand, Makes a Dress, and Saves the Rainforest

toss the floss… in the wastebasket.

Flushing itty bitty pieces of dental floss down the toilet seems like no big deal but it can actually wreak havoc on city wastewater pumping stations and treatment plants. Many newer flosses are made with Teflon and Gortex (which is pretty wild too when you stop to think about it) and are shred-resistant which may work wonders on your molars but quickly destroy sewage pump parts. When the floss builds up it can form a very strong rope that will wrap itself around equipment that moves the waste in the water

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toss the floss… in the wastebasket.

a dab’ll do ya.

By now you know that reduce is the sexiest of the 3 R’s, so flex your sexy muscle by reducing your impact in the shower.

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a dab’ll do ya.

Trillions of Killer Cigarette Butts Can Be Recycled to Fight Rust

Photo jasong106 via flickr. According to data from the Ocean Conservancy, in 2009 more than 3 million cigarettes or butts were picked up internationally from beaches and inland waterways as part of the annual International Coastal Cleanup – 1 million from U

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Trillions of Killer Cigarette Butts Can Be Recycled to Fight Rust