The tobacco industry is a top global plastic polluter

Published May 16, 2023

Cigarette butts are made of microplastics

You probably see one of the most common sources of microplastics everyday – on the ground, in parking lots, in gutters, or at the beach – cigarette butts.1 Discarded cigarettes contain filters made of plastic, which can break down into microplastics that then contaminate our soil and water sources and harm our health.2 In fact, each cigarette filter contains at least 15,000 strands of microplastic fibers.3

Cigarette butts are a major source of plastic pollution that endanger marine life and may harm humans.4 Each year, cigarette butts are the most discarded item in the United States, which makes sense – Big Tobacco makes 6 trillion cigarettes each year, making them a top global plastic polluter.5 6 7

What exactly are microplastics, and why should we care?

Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic measuring less than five millimeters long, about the size of a sesame seed or smaller.8 Though often invisible to the human eye, microplastics are nearly everywhere – polluting the food we eat, the water we drink, and even the air we breathe.9 10 Most microplastics take a long time to degrade in the environment, which means that when they enter our environment, they may eventually get eaten by marine life or other animals, which over time may go on to harm entire ecosystems.11 12

Due to their tiny size, microplastics are challenging to remove from our food and water sources.13 Microplastics have been found in sea water, tap water, and urban water runoff.14 15 7 It may come as a surprise that Americans ingest an estimated hundreds of thousands of microplastic particles a year.16 According to recent studies, microplastics have been found in human lungs, breast milk, and blood; they’ve been linked to fertility issues, oxidative stress, and inflammation in humans.17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

There’s no denying that tobacco product waste produces massive plastic pollution causing irreparable damage to our environment, our food supply, and potentially our bodies.

Written by Scott Coffin, Research Scientist
California State Water Resources Control Board

References

NOAA. What is the most common form of ocean litter? National Ocean Service website, https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/most-common-ocean-litter.html, 01/20/23.
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Novotny TE, Lum K, Smith E, Wang V, Barnes R. Cigarette butts and the case for an environmental policy on hazardous cigarette waste. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2009; 6(5): 1691-1705. doi:10.3390/ijerph6051691
Belzagui F, Buscio V, Gutiérrez-Bouzán C, Vilaseca M. Cigarette butts as a microfiber source with a microplastic level of concern. Sci Total Enviro. 2021;762:144165. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144165
Novotny TE, Lum K, Smith E, Wang V, Barnes R. Cigarette butts and the case for an environmental policy on hazardous cigarette waste. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2009; 6(5): 1691-1705. doi:10.3390/ijerph6051691
Ocean Conservancy, International Coastal Cleanup. 2022 Report: Connect + Collect. Washington, DC: Ocean Conservatory, International Coastal Cleanup; 2022. Accessed April 10, 2023.
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California State Water Resources Control Board, Resolution No. 2020-0021: Adoption of Definition of ‘Microplastics in Drinking Water.’ Published June 16, 2020. Accessed April 12, 2023.
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Coffin S, Bouwmeester H, Brander S, et al. Development and application of a health-based framework for informing regulatory action in relation to exposure of microplastic particles in California drinking water. Microplast nanoplast. 2022;2(1):12. doi: 10.1186/s43591-022-00030-6.