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.
Gloved hands holding cigarette butts