Agriculture and Environment: Tobacco
Environmental Impacts of Production: Solid Waste
Perhaps the least obvious way in which smoking impacts the environment is through tobacco-related waste and litter.
In the United States, the tobacco industry ranks eighteenth among all industries in the production of chemical waste.
Manufacturing & chemical wastes
Globally, the tobacco industry produced an estimated 2.26 million metric tons of manufacturing waste and 210 billion metric tons of chemical waste in 1995. Nicotine is an example of the industry's toxic waste. Globally, the industry produces about 300,000 metric tons of nicotine waste per year (Novotny and Zhao 1999).
Cigarette butts, everywhere
Litter is another problem. In the 1999 Clean Up Australia activities, the most common type of rubbish collected was cigarette butts, especially filters. Tobacco waste accounted for 9% of the 10 most common items found (Tobacco Free Kids 2001).
In the United Kingdom cigarette butts account for some 40% of street litter. UK smokers alone throw away 200 million butts and 20 million cigarette packages every day (Tidy Britain Group 1995). The International Coastal Cleanup Project reported that cigarette butts were 20% of all litter items found (Novotny and Zhao 1999).
Difficult to break down & release toxins
The filters are not readily biodegradable and can take from 18 months to 5 years to break down. As the tobacco in the butts degrades it releases toxins into the soil. With tens of trillions of cigarettes sold and with considerable tobacco remaining in each when it is discarded, this is a significant source of toxin waste.
