World Cleanup Day 2020: Tackling cigarette butt pollution

It probably comes as no surprise that cigarette butts are the most-littered items in the world. Since the 1980s, cigarette butts have made up 30% to 40% of all items collected in cleanups around the world. Out of the 6 trillion produced every year, 4.5 trillion of them wind up in our forests, beaches and waterways. That means only a third actually make it into the trash!

It's a frustratingly common sight...a worker out for their smoke break drops their cigarette butt into the gutter. Or a driver idly flicks one out the window while waiting at a traffic light. But what happens next? Well, rainwater usually sweeps them down storm drains and into local rivers or lakes. They might even make it all the way to the ocean.

Even after being discarded, cigarette butts continue to leach harmful chemicals like nicotine and other heavy metals such as arsenic into the environment, poisoning fish and other animals who accidentally consume them. Sadly, they are often discovered inside the bodies of seabirds and turtles, thousands of miles away from urban areas.

Cigarette filters — the part that looks like white cotton — are also made of a type of plastic called cellulose acetate, which takes anywhere from 18 months to 10 years to degrade, depending on the type of environment it's been dumped in. After the fibers erode, they join the already-huge collection of microplastics plaguing our oceans and waterways.

While the full impacts of cigarette butts on plants is not yet known, a 2019 study from Anglia Ruskin University in the UK revealed that cigarette butts thrown into the soil reduced the germination and shoot length of clover by about 25%, while root biomass was reduced by close to 60%. The researchers sampled different locations, finding up to 128 discarded cigarettes in some areas!

Between 2014 and 2017, sales of e-cigarettes increased nearly sevenfold. Their mix of both nicotine and electronic components makes them especially difficult to dispose of properly. While research into the effects this kind of waste has on the environment is still in its early days, it's becoming more and more common to find discarded plastic pods on beaches all over the world.

Other cleanup initiatives have decided to get a bit more creative. For the festive season last year, the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement set up a Christmas tree out the front of the Korea Tobacco & Ginseng Corporation office in Seoul, South Korea.

So, ready to pick-up those annoying cigarette butts? Keep in mind, this year's World Cleanup Day will look a little different compared to previous years. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic means countries can decide which cleanup activities are best suited to their situation. People can take part in individual cleanups, community cleanups (socially-distanced, of course), or even digital cleanups.