Image: MaRabelo/Getty Images
It is well known that there is a lot of human-produced trash polluting the world's oceans. Recent reports claim the item that is most abundant among the various items making up this trash is cigarette butts. I couldn't find the weight distribution of pollutants involved by category - but that would still not provide the full picture as what matters is the rate of chemical dissolution, absorption into living organisms, propagation through various food chains, etc.
Given that cigarette filters tend to float on the surface it may be possible to gather them without too much trouble. But regardless of that - as an ex-smoker who for years smoked only hand-rolled filterless cigarettes I have the following to say: if you have to smoke, this is what you should smoke. Not only would that make your butts biodegradable - the harsh taste of raw tobacco will force you to quite earlier thus lowering your nicotine consumption and making the whole experience less damaging to you, based on my limited knowledge of how it works.
Sources
The Most Abundant Type of Ocean Trash Is Not What We Expected, And It's Disgusting
John Walsh, Business Insider, 3 September 2018
Plastic straw ban? Cigarette butts are the single greatest source of ocean trash
James Rainey, NBC News, 27 August 2018
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It is very accurately said! We ourselves pollute the seas, beaches, rivers, not thinking that tomorrow we will come here to rest! We create our own problems , and then we break our heads, how to solve them! Can it be easier for everyone to learn how to throw cigarette in bucket for rubbish?
Ideally - yes.
In practice, picturing a construction worker or a sailor being neat and properly disposing of a butt while sitting on a high deck of a boat may not be very realistic. My suggestion had a twofold benefit - the smoker is not duping themselves into smoking more than they should, and the butts end up environmentally friendly.
Sad. Sad sad
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I was just discussing this with my family members last week. But was in relation to plastic. I go fishing a lot and every lake, river and of course the sea are just covered in the stuff. For example currently in South Korea and I think they use the most plastic per head in the world. Change is needed, but unless the people themselves change, governments are unlikely to act.