Cigarette Litter Is Not Just Unsightly; It’s Downright Toxic

By Eric Ascalon

Cigarette butts are the most littered item on the planet, and comprise 38% of all roadside trash.

Each year, a staggering 10 billion cigarette butts are tossed on America’s streets, sidewalks, parklands, and beaches (the worldwide figure is a confounding 4 trillion cigarette butts).  

Contrary to popular conception, cigarette waste is not inert and does not harmlessly decompose.  

Cigarette filters consist of a type of fibrous plastic called cellulose acetate. After absorbing hundreds of toxins from cigarette smoke, the material persists in the environment for decades.  Through storm drains and tidal/flood cycles, the waste commonly migrates to our freshwater and marine ecosystems, where it wreaks real havoc. 

Collectively, cities and towns in the U.S. spend tens of millions of dollars cleaning up cigarette waste annually. 

There are simple and meaningful ways, however, to mitigate cigarette litter before the butt even hits the ground.  Research has shown that where communities place cigarette receptacles in “transition points” there is typically a greater-than 60% reduction in cigarette litter!  

“Transition points” are those areas where a person must stop smoking before they proceed further, such as a parking lot in a main street business district, the beach entrances of a boardwalk, the perimeter of a local park, or the employee entrances of a business.

In conjunction with appropriate signage indicating that a pedestrian is about to enter a “no-smoking zone,” smokers are apt to properly extinguish and dispose of their cigarette in the receptacle versus tossing it on the ground in the absence of a receptacle (where the vast majority of cigarette butts ordinarily wind up). 

We are fortunate to have programs like New Jersey Clean Communities, a tremendous resource to assist cities and towns in the implementation of cigarette litter strategies. 

Additionally, Trenton-based TerraCycle, a leader in innovative sustainability solutions, has a free turnkey program that allows New Jersey’s municipalities, NGOs, and businesses to easily collect and recycle this toxic waste stream, keeping the harmful cellulose acetate filters out of landfills and waste to energy facilities.  

TerraCycle sanitizes and converts the plastic filters into a variety of commercial and industrial products. This no-cost program has recycled more than a quarter-billion cigarette butts collected throughout North America. 

Eric Ascalon of Cherry Hill is TerraCycle’s Global Director of Community Development.