Cigarette Butts are Litter

And they are toxic as well as unsightly!

Did you know...

• Smokers discard billions of cigarette butts each year.
• A large percent of cigarette butts are “tossed” directly into the environment.
• Cigarette butts accumulate outside of buildings, in parking lots and on streets where they can be transported through our storm drains into our streams and rivers.
• Cigarette filters look like cotton, but are made of cellulose acetate, a plastic that is slow to degrade in the environment.
• A pack and a half a day equals more than 10,000 cigarettes a year. 10,000 cigarette butts is equivalent, in volume, to five liters.
• Nicotine is a powerful insecticide and, in its pure form, among the deadliest of all plant products.
• Tobacco residue, along with the toxic chemicals left in cigarette filters that are tossed as butts, quickly leach into our water supply.
• Cigarette butts are the most common type of litter on earth.
• Cigarette butts harm our environment.