Be a part of the solution...prevent cigarette butt pollution!
- Cigarette butts that are littered and not put out properly are a direct threat to forests, homes, parks and wildlife. This could result in major wildfires and in the possible loss of life and significant property damage, costing billions of dollars. Cigarette butts have been linked to large wildfires, resulting in the destruction of wildlife, vegetation and property.
- Cigarette butts are the number one littered item in the world. Cigarette butts represent the biggest litter problem facing the world today. About 4.5 trillion butts are discarded into the environment worldwide each year. A 2008 study called the Keep America Beautiful Pocket Ashtray Study, they surveyed over 1,000 smokers and found that 35% litter five or more cigarette butts per pack on the ground. The butts that remain on the ground and are not disposed of correctly and safely can find their way into streams, rivers, and lakes where fish and animals eat them by mistake and quite often they die from them.
- Every year in California the state has a statewide cleanup program. The California Department of Transportation spends more than $41 million in trash collection and waste clean up. Cigarette butts account for almost one third of the waste that is collected. Therefore, cigarette butts make up 34 percent of the total waste collected in California.