When it comes to litter, cigarette butts used to be the least of my worries. Sure, they look bad littering the sidewalk, but I assumed they were made or paper or something that would biodegrade after a couple of rains.
Boy, was I wrong.
Turns out, cigarette filters are plastic—making cigarette butts the most commonly polluted plastic item in the world. Though they're tiny, it adds up...to 1.7 billion pounds a year in the U.S. alone. And all the toxic stuff that makes cigarettes bad for you? That's still in the butts, leaching out into our soil and water and poisoning the fish and animals who mistake them for food. All those butts are not just unsightly but a legitimate environmental concern.
Fortunately, TerraCycle is on the case with a pretty good solution: a free recycling program for cigarette waste. If you're a smoker or want to help reduce the cigarette waste from others, you can sign up for the program on the TerraCycle website and see their tips for collection. Once you're signed up, just request a prepaid shipping label each time you're ready to mail your waste. It's completely free and super easy! Take those butts out of the environment and put them in the recycled-plastic ashtrays where they belong.
-Justine