Why is cigarette litter so bad? I always make sure the butts are out so a fire wont happen.

Question

Cigarette butts are so small so why worry about littering them.

Answer 1

A couple of reasons:

1- they are toxic waste and should be disposed of properly.

2- if they are tossed out the window or on the ground they become litter.

3- millions of dollars are spent every year cleaning them out of storm drains.

4- they are toxic to wild life, so they shouldn't be allowed to be tossed in a way that would allow land or sea animals to eat them.

5- they can leach into our water system and put toxins into our water supply.

Those filters are meant to protect you to a minor degree from the toxins in the cigarette, that means they have a higher concentration of toxins than any other part of the cigarette, and they don't biodegrade.

Answer 2

You won't believe what's in that stuff. Nicotine, carbon monoxide, and my personal favorite: TAR. CIGARETTES WILL RUIN YOUR LIFE. SAME AS DRUGS, Beer's not so bad, though, in moderation.

Answer 3

Because they look like c**p and take years to break down.  Are you really so lazy that you cant throw them in the trash or an ash tray?  Because if the answer is yes, thats pretty lazy.

Answer 4

You know, your right...they are so small.  In fact, you got me thinking.....tampons are pretty small too...

So maybe next time, I'll just toss the tampons about on the ground.  Yes, I realize perfectly well tampons are bigger than cigarette butts, but I only use tampons about three days of the month.  Smokers smoke, and toss cigarette butts on the ground every day.

Besides, tampons are biodegradable.  

I'm also sure nobody is going to mind if their dog eats the tampons, and comes home and yarfs them up on the carpet, any more than I do, if my dog eats cigarette butts and yarfs them up on the carpet, right?

It's a USED FILTER dude....think about it.  You don't want people tossing used furnace filters about, or used oil filters, or used tampons about....it's LITTERING.  It's GROSS.

Take your tiny tampon with you, and dispose of it properly....nobody wants to look at it.

~Garnet

Permaculture homesteading/farming over 20 years

Answer 5

http://whyquit.com/whyquit/A_Butts.html

Just read this.

Answer 6

anything that contains c**p{like cigarette butts} is not good and adds up. Things like apple cores or bananna peals are actually good for the enviro. Put your butt in the trash so the rest of us don't have to look at it.

Answer 7

They pile up after a while and they are heck to get up.

Answer 8

Wow.  I can't beat Garnet on this one, except it would be hard to look cool flipping a tampon away as you discard it, wouldn't it?

Answer 9

Because ALL littering is bad! Don't do it--and it's illegal and gross.  

Answer 10

If that's the way we all thought about things, the world would be a mess.  Oh wait it already is.  There's a thing called "cumulative effects."  Sure, one cigarette butt doesn't seem like much.  But if every person threw one on the ground every day, it would add up quite quickly and the world would soon just be a big ashtray.

Not to mention all the other effects like toxicity if eaten, toxicity in the water, fire hazards, etc.  I don't smoke personally so that means I don't add to the cigarette litter.  So does that mean I get to throw my napkins on the ground instead?  Or maybe Q-tips?  How about receipts?

The world is not your ashtray.  If butts are so small, how hard are they to carry to a trash bin (who knows, the exercise might do you some good) or to stick in your pocket and dispose of properly?

Answer 11

Each butt is small itself, but when millions of them wash into the rivers/oceans, it adds up.  And since they don't degrade quickly, the problem grows year after year.

Answer 12

why are cigarette butts so bad? they are eyesores, they contain toxic chemicals, and they are only the beginning. at what point do you draw the line for litter? cigarette butts are small, so what about candy wrappers? they are also small. how about soft drinks cans? they are not much larger than cigarette butts, and they contain no toxic chemicals. at that point we may as well forget tossing things into the trash. after that we may as well urinate and defecate in the streets, heck we dont need any sewers either. and then what do we have? the entire country becomes a huge trash can. is that what you want? stop being a lazy idiot, and toss your cigarette butts in the trash where they belong.

do your part and keep America beautiful.