Cigarette Butts are Rubbish

Mallards with placards reading "Cigarette butts are rubbish", "Bin Your Butts" and "No Ifs, No Butts"

Cigarette butts are made of plastic and do not biodegrade, so when you drop one on the ground it is no different to littering a water bottle, a crisp packet or any other item you wouldn't dream of dropping. Yet, despite only 12% of the population being regular smokers we know that somehow cigarette butts make up an astonishing 66% of all littered items. If you smoke make sure you put your cigarette butts in a bin or a container, because cigarette butts are rubbish!

A duck's feet surrounded by cigarette butts. Text reads "Bin your butts"

Is Cigarette Litter a big issue?

Cigarette butts make up an astonishing 66% of all littered items! This creates a big issue as cigarette butts are made of plastic and do not biodegrade. Over time, cigarette butts break apart into microplastics and seep toxins into the earth and our waterways. When you consider that nearly 3 million cigarette butts are littered in the UK every day, you can start to understand what a big issue this is.

What harm do cigarette butts cause?

Cigarette butts cause devastating environmental damage. Over time each butt will break apart into microplastics, seeping toxic chemicals including arsenic, lead, formaldehyde and nicotine into the earth and watercourses. These chemicals affect ecosystems at every level, from microorganisms through to plants, animals and aquatic life.

HOW SHOULD CIGARETTE BUTTS BE DISPOSED OF?

If you smoke, make sure that you stub your cigarette out and put it in a bin. If you are not near a bin, then please keep it with you until you can bin it – in a container or a portable ashtray.

Some people believe that putting a cigarette butt down a drain is the right way to get rid of it, but in fact this is still littering! These butts go directly into our waterways and eventually the sea, causing harm to marine life.

Cigarettes are rubbish, so please put them in the bin.

KEEP BRITAIN TIDY'S CAMPAIGN AGAINST CIGARETTE LITTER

Our national behaviour change campaign is part of a programme of work to tackle the UK's largest source of litter, cigarette butts. The campaign is underpinned by research and supported by practical behaviour change interventions.

At the end of our first year, we estimated that through reach and targeting our behaviour change campaign was seen by over 80% of smokers in England. Our two behaviour change interventions substantially reduced cigarette littering behaviour, and our research reveals hotspots for cigarette litter and explores and tracks smokers' attitudes to littering.

We are now in the second year of the programme and continuing to optimise and evaluate our work. While cigarette litter remains the UK's largest source of litter, this workstream will be a continued priority for Keep Britain Tidy.

REFERENCES

[1] Keep Britain Tidy; Litter Composition Analysis Summary Report March 2020 20200330 KBT Litter Composition Report - FINAL.pdf (keepbritaintidy.org)

[2] Keep Britain Tidy (2022) Baseline Attitudinal Study into Smoking Related Littering, YouGov 24th-26th May 2022. UK adults, aged 18+ (smokers & non-smokers) 499 current UK smokers, aged 18+ and 3702 non-smokers

[3] Keep Britain Tidy National Litter Survey 2019/2020 National Litter Survey How Clean is England Leaflet 2019 2020.pdf (keepbritaintidy.org)

[4] Modelling study: François-Xavier Joly, Mathieu Coulis, Comparison of cellulose vs. plastic cigarette filter decomposition under distinct disposal environments, Waste Management, Volume 72, 2018, Pages 349-353, ISSN 0956-053X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2017.11.023.

[5] Novotny, T.E. and Slaughter, E. (2014) Tobacco product waste: an environmental approach to reduce tobacco consumption. Curr. Environ. Health Rep. 1, 208-216.) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4129234/

[6] World Health Organisation (2022). Tobacco: poisoning our planet. ISBN 978-92-4-005128-7 https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240051287)

[7] Disposable e-cigarettes and cigarette butts alter the physiology of an aquatic plant Lemna minor (Lemnaceae) (2023) D.S. Green, B. Boots, B. Olah-Kovacs, D. Palma-Diogo. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969723030784?via%3Dihub#bb0260