How can throwing a little cigarette butt out of the car window hurt the environment?

Question

I always toss my cigarettes on the ground but I make sure they are out.

Answer 1

It's not necessarily the sparks as much as the bulk.  Cigarettes don't disintegrate, that's why you see so many butts in parking lots and such.  One little cigarette butt each time you smoke times the millions of other people throwing them out the window builds up over time.  It's just cleaner and better for the environment to put then in a cigarette disposal bin or in the trash after they're out.

Answer 2

an unfiltered cigarette will cause little damage because it quickly decomposes.  It does have a high concentration of nicotine and might kill a bug.  Some of those filters will last for years, and if birds or small animals eat them they could die.  They do add to the moisture retention of the ground.

Answer 3

YOU SHOULDN´T SMOKE IN THE FIRST PLACE

god

every pack of cigarettes= 11 minutes less of life

Answer 4

Lots of good answers!  I'd just like to add that cigarettes contain THOUSANDS of poisonous substances apart from nicotine, many of them carcinogens [cancer-causing].  The cigarette companies won't reveal precisely which chemicals they add to their products, but they include arsenic, cyanide, formaldehyde, carbon monoxide, sulphuric acid, and benzene.

Consider the billions of butts thrown out daily: all those poisons are going into the soil, water and air, to poison plants, animals and humans.

One has to wonder why they are permitted to keep selling such a lethal product.....

Answer 5

Animals, humans a like can eat them.  I'm thinking of a wild animal, dog, or child.

Secondly, imagine if everyone did it.  Sure if only one is sitting there not to big of a deal.. now everyone does it.. think of the poison that is going into the land because of it.

Answer 6

First of all, you could start a fire. Throwing any burning object out the car window is against the law. It is not bio- degradable,and full of that poison from the nicotine. And how many butts gets thrown out the car windows everyday by people who think just like you? " Oh,one little butt won't make a difference". But it does.That land doesn't belong to you,so have some respect for it. Throw them on your own floor. Byee, (from another smoker)

Answer 7

ok well ... firstly let's say it isn't out like you thought it was .. i am sure that you know you could cause a fire..

but that aside.. the butts contain nicotine which is a poison.. enough butts dropped by enough people could lead to wildlife being killed... and the butts take a long time to break down

Answer 8

Anything that is synthetic such as a cigarette butt can not be good for the environment. Would you eat or swallow a cigarette butt?? Do you think that it would be good for your stomach/body?? Now think smaller animals then you can may eat these butts ,,,

Is it that hard to put the butt in a bin?? Or carry it until you can place it into a bin?

Do you think it makes the environment look beautiful with cigarette butts scattered across the ground??

Answer 9

It could spark a wildfire...

How hard is it to toss your cigarette in the trash instead of on the ground, or to keep a teeny plastic garbage bag in your car for cigarettes and other trash?  Seriously, I sweep up parking lots once a week and you'd be amazed how many cigarette butts accumulate in that amount of time.  It's disgusting.  Cigarettes and cigarette packages make up a huge percentage of the garbage people drop on the sidewalk.  Think about all the places where someone is not hired to sweep up.  The cigarettes just collect there forever.  Eventually, they'll break down if they happened to land on soil, although how is that going to affect the soil with all that nicotine and rat poison?  The more likely scenario is it lands by the curb next to dozens of other cigarettes tossed by lazy people and turns into a wet gross mess next time it rains.  Just don't litter.  It's so easy not to.  Please.

Answer 10

Then you are part of the problem not the solution in killing the innocent wildlife around you.

That cigarette butt might end up in the road side gutter and end up going down a river and then to the sea.  A whale, turtle or dolpin may eat it thinking it is food, and gets sick and die.

Answer 11

some time a little cigarette  butt throwing from the car can cause serious fire in the forest and cause damage to life and property. so next time be carefull.