Study: Cigarette Butts—Not Plastic Straws—Are The Worst Contaminant of Oceans

[editor]

Eeurgh.

according to a new report from NBC News, the source of our collective energy may be misplaced. The report suggests that the biggest man-made contaminant of the world’s oceans is not plastic straws, or even plastic bags, but cigarette butts.

Cigarette butts are not only ubiquitous, but also their disposal has largely been unregulated, meaning a nearly unlimited number hit the seas. But a number of individuals and organizations are fighting to change that.

A campaign, the Cigarette Butt Pollution Project, hopes to ban cigarette filters, which are made from cellulose acetate, a type of plastic that can take over a decade to decompose, according to NBC. Of the 5.6 trillion cigarettes that are made with these filters each

http://fortune.com

 

[Artaxerxes]

Straws were only ever a strawman(ha) in the plastic issue, those and plastic bags are the scape goats for a material we use in nearly everything then discard without thinking.

Banning them is an easy way for companies to pretend to give a shit and not actually do anything meaningful to change.

 

[Mrs Miggins]

Straws were only ever a strawman(ha) in the plastic issue, those and plastic bags are the scape goats for a material we use in nearly everything then discard without thinking.

Banning them is an easy way for companies to pretend to give a shit and not actually do anything meaningful to change.

Yes I agree with that. Singling out straws and being oh so crowingly proud about it has always seemed a bit ludicrous to me.

 

[Yossarian]

Yes I agree with that. Singling out straws and being oh so crowingly proud about it has always seemed a bit ludicrous to me.

Woman who makes huge f**king deal about plastic straws always flying everywhere

 

[pesh]

Woman who makes huge f**king deal about plastic straws always flying everywhere

Someone was on Facebook yesterday complaining about the amount of rubbish left at Leeds festival from their hot air balloon

 

[gentlegreen]

I've seen people speculating that the clay pipes that people used for the first 300 years were often single-use.
I'm somewhat skeptical because quite a lot of them were ornate, and it can't be that much hassle to clear the tar using a red hot wire ...
I embarrassed myself in front of my brother some years ago when I asked him why there were so many "empty shotgun cartridges" in the Camel Estuary (he's in the sewage business)

 

[gentlegreen]

Someone was on Facebook yesterday complaining about the amount of rubbish left at Leeds festival from their hot air balloon

You mean discarded sand ballast ?

 

[SpackleFrog]

Eish I wasn't too worried cos I don't use straws of any kind and I re use plastic bags but now I feel very guilty :/

 

[gentlegreen]

Straws are reckoned to be useful for keeping acidic sugary drinks away from your teeth...

 

[SheilaNaGig]

It’s been bloody obvious for years and years. Sifting through apparently clean sand on a deserted beach will always turn up cigarette butts. You see them everywhere, just everywhere. Those stupid plastic coffee stirrers too. Those need to be banned as well.

The Japanese carry little portable ashtrays.

Portable ashtray - DeepJapan

I find it quite odd that cigarette smokers haven’t worked this out for themselves. I’ve seen otherwise conscientious smokers walk the extra bit to put something into a trash can, and then drop their stub onto the ground and leave it there.

 

[Yossarian]

A lot of people seem to think it's OK to chuck their cigarette butts in storm drains, possibly because they don't know what a storm drain is or does.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Yep. Take your butts to a bin you selfish, filthy cunts.

 

[SheilaNaGig]

Straws are reckoned to be useful for keeping acidic sugary drinks away from your teeth...

And filters are supposed to reduce some of the harm caused by inhaling tobacco smoke.

All this stuff serves a purpose.

That’s not the issue here.

It’s the blind iodiocy of irresponsible disposal.

Plastic is amazing stuff. It’s one of the greatest inventions we’ve ever come up with. It’s our stupid profligacy and disrespect for the environment that’s the problem here.



Sequins and glitter and nail polish is also problematic. More so in the sense that when we use those, we unintentionally scatter it all over the place, in particles that are already small enough to slip through the drains and into the watercourse.

At least with coffee stirrers and straws and yes, cigarette butts too, we can control where we discard them.

 

[Teaboy]

Cigrette butts have always been a bugbear of mine. Smokers just don't see them as litter, like there is a disconnect going on. Otherwise decent people who would never just chuck an empty coke can or pack of crisps on the floor are quite happy to chuck butts wherever and whenever.

 

[SheilaNaGig]

A lot of people seem to think it's OK to chuck their cigarette butts in storm drains, possibly because they don't know what a storm drain is or does.

I had a quarrel with some kids on the South Bank. They were eating take away burgers and when they finished they scrumpled up the waste and tossed it into the river. I was surprised by how angry I was. I went over and asked them why they’d done it, told them not to do it. It turned out that they thought they were “throwing it away”, they really thought they had avoided littering (dropping it on the floor) by tossing it into the river.

They were laughing at me, taking the piss, one of them started filming (crazy lady video to laugh at later) but finally one of them seemed to get it when I asked “where do you think the river goes to?”

 

[cheesethief]

Perhaps you clever folk can answer a question on this issue that has been vexing me - I've followed Sky's rather preachy plastic pollution campaign for a while now with a growing sense of annoyance. So we have single use plastics that are thrown away, much of which is never recycled and ends up in landfill. Got it. Then there's a few billion tons of plastic waste floating around in the sea. Got that too. My question is, how does the former end up in the latter? If I chuck my evil plastic waste in the bin, how does it bypass landfill or incineration and end up choking turtles? Don't get me wrong, I'm 100% behind the campaign, I saw Blue Planet 2 too, and apart from that smug twat currently swimming the length of the channel, I have only positive vibes about sea life. I just want to know how waste that was destined for burial or burning ends up in the oceans? Sky seem to have entirely glossed over that for some strange reason. How does my empty Fanta bottle from 1989, that should be under 60 feet of dirt somewhere in East Anglia, find itself bobbing around in the Indian ocean?

 

[Teaboy]

Perhaps you clever folk can answer a question on this issue that has been vexing me - I've followed Sky's rather preachy plastic pollution campaign for a while now with a growing sense of annoyance. So we have single use plastics that are thrown away, much of which is never recycled and ends up in landfill. Got it. Then there's a few billion tons of plastic waste floating around in the sea. Got that too. My question is, how does the former end up in the latter? If I chuck my evil plastic waste in the bin, how does it bypass landfill or incineration and end up choking turtles? Don't get me wrong, I'm 100% behind the campaign, I saw Blue Planet 2 too, and apart from that smug twat currently swimming the length of the channel, I have only positive vibes about sea life. I just want to know how waste that was destined for burial or burning ends up in the oceans? Sky seem to have entirely glossed over that for some strange reason. How does my empty Fanta bottle from 1989, that should be under 60 feet of dirt somewhere in East Anglia, find itself bobbing around in the Indian ocean?

Quite simply the vast majority of plastic that's in the oceans does not come from the UK or other countries that have had a system of waste disposal for decades.

Some does, particularity through our rivers which loads of shit gets dumped into but nothing like the mass scale dumping of rubbish at sea which goes on elsewhere in the world.

 

[SheilaNaGig]

An awful lot of plastic waste gets washed through the storm sewers. Litter on the pavement and street gets washed rain storms and straight into the water course.

But huge volumes of plastic waste comes from developing countries. There are those hideous pictures of rivers choked with plastic waste, and that gets washed out to sea. Some places (Indonesia is one) are being deluged with plastic washing up on their shores, just too much for them to deal with, so it lies around til it’s washed out to sea again.

Also container ships. An astonishingly high number of containers falls overboard and the contents eventually end up sloshing about the then oceans.

Us here deciding not to use straws is about as helpful as deciding to switch off the landing light at night or do the laundry in cold water.

It needs a much more concerted and complete solution.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Quite simply the vast majority of plastic that's in the oceans does not come from the UK or other countries that have had a system of waste disposal for decades.

Some does, particularity through our rivers which loads of shit gets dumped into but nothing like the mass scale dumping of rubbish at sea which goes on elsewhere in the world.

Although IIRC all London's landfill waste gets dumped...right next to the fucking sea.

 

[SheilaNaGig]

Re: container ships

ccording to various estimates, at least hundreds, and as many as ten thousand, shipping containers are lost at sea annually when cargo ships tip over in rough seas or crash on reefs or rocks. The World Shipping Council, an international maritime shipping industry trade group, contests the 10,000-container estimate, claiming it is “grossly excessive,” yet concedes that “there have been no comprehensive statistics kept, as to the number of containers lost overboard.” So no one is really sure how many containers are lost at sea each year because detailed records aren’t kept by any one entity.

When shipping containers go overboard, they float for days or weeks just below the ocean’s surface, like an iceberg, posing a major threat to ships that may hit them. Eventually they take on enough water to sink to the seafloor, where they rupture and release the goods they contain.

Plastic Pollution: From Ship to Shore • The Revelator

 

[Supine]

Trust me - as a scuba diver I can tell you the worst plastic contamination in the sea is nappies. Not nice to swim past

 

[cheesethief]

Quite simply the vast majority of plastic that's in the oceans does not come from the UK or other countries that have had a system of waste disposal for decades.

Some does, particularity through our rivers which loads of shit gets dumped into but nothing like the mass scale dumping of rubbish at sea which goes on elsewhere in the world.

So... it's all a bit pointless then? Switching to paper straws, recycling coffee cups, amassing enough bags-for-life to keep a vampire happy, none of it will really make any difference if it's not, on the whole, our waste that's causing the bulk of the problem?

 

[Edie]

I used to be one of those smokers who never thought twice about throwing a fag butt out the car window, stepping it out on the street, or in the grass or sand. I know it sounds completely implausible but I’d never considered there was anything wrong with it until I read a thread here

 

[Teaboy]

I used to be one of those smokers who never thought twice about throwing a fag butt out the car window, stepping it out on the street, or in the grass or sand. I know it sounds completely implausible but I’d never considered there was anything wrong with it until I read a thread here

You're not alone by any means.

 

[Teaboy]

So... it's all a bit pointless then? Switching to paper straws, recycling coffee cups, amassing enough bags-for-life to keep a vampire happy, none of it will really make any difference if it's not, on the whole, our waste that's causing the bulk of the problem?

Probably.

But then again you've got to start somewhere and developed countries have the means to lead the way. When you consider though that in vast swathes of the world the only safe water to drink comes in plastic bottles you do wonder how far this can go. Straws are not even in the same postal district as the tip of the iceberg. When you start looking around single use plastic is everywhere and the majority of this is not recycled even the stuff that is put in the recycling.

 

[gentlegreen]

I believe a lot of the pollution comes from spilled raw plastic pellets - so the more single-use plastic used by us, the more plastic pellets are in transit.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Trust me - as a scuba diver I can tell you the worst plastic contamination in the sea is nappies. Not nice to swim past

A hazard to wildlife too:

Dolphin Is Found Suffocated To Death By A DIAPER That Got Caught In Its Teeth And Throat While It Swam Off The Coast Of Mexico

 

[SheilaNaGig]

So... it's all a bit pointless then? Switching to paper straws, recycling coffee cups, amassing enough bags-for-life to keep a vampire happy, none of it will really make any difference if it's not, on the whole, our waste that's causing the bulk of the problem?

I used to be one of those smokers who never thought twice about throwing a fag butt out the car window, stepping it out on the street, or in the grass or sand. I know it sounds completely implausible but I’d never considered there was anything wrong with it until I read a thread here

This is why we do it cheesethief . Because it’s got to start somewhere. If those who do get it demonstrate the necessary changes with sufficient determination and consistency, then those that don’t be get it will start to get it. Hopefully we’ll overcome the inertia and eventually arrive at some kind of beneficial tipping point.

It’s got to be better than doing nothing.

Mumbai has banned disposable plastic bags and bottles. We ought to have done so too. Seeing other nations do it makes it more likely that it will happen here.

 

[SheilaNaGig]

I believe a lot of the pollution comes from spilled raw plastic pellets - so the more single-use plastic used by us, the more plastic pellets are in transit.

Yes. From shipping containers.

Our addiction to disposable plastic is a huge problem.

It’s the disposable aspect of it.

Hospitals don’t even re-use metal items any more. We’re going to see that issue being more problematic in the near future too.


ETA Google for nurdle pollution for more on the plastic pellet issue.

 

[Mrs D]

Most plastic pollution in the oceans is from the fishing industry, ropes, nets, floats etc. Cigarette butts made from wood pulp and that decompose in a very swift ten years should be of least concern. But you know, smoking’s bad and eating fish is trendy.