Overview

=The Issue:= As we enter the 21st century, the world we live in has been negatively affected by many types of pollution which has poisoned and eroded the beauty of our planet today. One of the largest sources of pollution comes from the careless disposal of waste also known as littering. It can come from anything from throwing out plastic wrappers out of your car window to spitting out chewing gum onto the floor. The largest source of littering comes from the careless disposal of cigarettes!

// “Each year, 52 billion cigarettes smoked by five million Canadian smokers contribute to almost 5,000 tonnes of pollutants into the atmosphere. Approximately one in five littered item in Canada is a cigarette, making cigarette butts the most littered item world wide. Globally approximately 4.3 trillion cigarettes are littered each year.” (Smoke Free Canada) //

This has been a growing issue as cigarette litter has caused many major negative affects that are extremely hazardous to the environment and society. Toxins from cigarette filters often tend to leach out into the environment, which can lead to issues concerning the poisoning of animals and the pollution of water systems. Another negative affect caused by cigarette litter is that it is responsible for several forest fires each year, destroying vast areas of wildlife and even homes.

// “In 2001 alone, there were 31,200 such fires nationwide, resulting in 830 deaths, thousands of serious injuries and $386 million in direct property damage, according to the National Fire Protection Association. Many of the victims of cigarette fires are non-smokers, including children, family members, neighbors and firefighters.” (tobaccofreekids.org) //

Not only does cigarette litter become extremely hazardous to the environment, the arrangement of littered cigarette butts around neighborhoods and cities makes the appearance and quality of lifestyle in society appear unclean and unhealthy.

Lastly, in result to such as high disposal rate of cigarette butts, government costs for the cleaning of cities from litter is extremely large. This has become such as large issue in societies all over the world due to the fact that traditional cigarette filters are ultimately impossible to decompose. The common cigarette filter is composed of a substance called cellulose acetate, which can take approximately about 3-5 years to break down and yet studies have shown that they still do not fully decompose.

Cigarette litter is a constantly growing issue, which lacks an aspect of social awareness. Everyday thousands of people carelessly throw their cigarette butts onto the grounds unaware of the environmental consequences of their actions. As a society we need to bring to attention that this is a critical issue which needs to be solved.