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Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame
So is 24.7% an increasing rate over previous years? Is it continually increasing? This number doesn't suggest anything about cigarette butt litter becoming worse, per se. Also, where were these coastal cleanups? And I should mention that just because it was the highest rate in the study you quoted, doesn't mean it was the most damaging to the surrounding environment.
I'm not sure there's much of a case to be made that the 'future' is going to suffer considerably if there is no data as to significant cigarette butt littering rates and the damage they cause to the environment. If there is, I'll eat some humble pie. But in my consideration, there is far worse pollution out there. Let's start with car exhaust for one. Smokers and non-smokers are both guilty of this; I think people need to ween themselves off of car usage almost as bad as people who need to ween off cigarettes. It's really a matter of perspective.
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Prior to 1954 most cigarettes weren't filtered so that alone has enhanced the problem. The somewhat recent ban of indoor smoking caused a shift in cigarette disposition. Now more butts are accumulating outside and on streets etc. Also global tobacco consumption has doubled in the last 30 years (USDA). cigarette butts take up a large volume of space. If one person smokes a pack and a half a day, he will consume more than 10,000 cigarettes in a year. This number of cigarette butts (filters only --not including remnant tobacco) will fill a volume of liters. Worldwide annual consumption of cigarettes creates enough cigarette butt waste to fill more than 2,800,000,000 liters. The reason I brought up the International Coastal clean ups is because this is one measure to show how many of these butts are ending up in streams, rivers and coastal environments. In these clean ups Cigarettes have topped the list every year since it started in 1998 and the volume has been increasing since these records have been tracked (USDA). There is also a Canadian cleanup organized in Vancouver
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_C...reline_Cleanup People are starting to push back on this issue. I was in Santa Cruz in July and there was full on anti-pollution marches on the streets and save our beaches etc. and many of the mascots etc. dressed up with signs had cigarette butts pictured as noted by the stats it is the biggest pollutant in the oceans and beaches today. Too bad as they have some beautiful state beaches in the area that are completely polluted. Some of this has to do with letting the dune buggies run wild in that particular area but people just don't seem to care when they mindlessly toss stuff out. I was at these same beaches two years prior and yes the problem is getting worse. Nevermind that though and your need to have these things backed up by facts and figures.....next time you are at a red light in Calgary look down on the ground and around the gutters and notice all the butts and tell me that the problem isn't getting worse.