Cigarette Butt Waste & Littering Statistics
Today, butts are often more than just litter. Environmentally, these butts create one of the most toxic elements and will continue for a long time. For example, there are approximately 4.5 trillion butts discarded all over the world, making them the highest littering every year.
In Australia, cigarette filters take years to degrade, and leaches toxic chemicals harmful to aquatic species and are found strewn about urban environments, parks, and coasts.
Cigarette butts contain non-biodegradable plastic filters (cellulose acetate) and thousands of toxic chemicals, including carcinogens and heavy metals, which leach into soil and waters, thereby contaminating ecosystems and harming wildlife.
How Big is the Problem? Key Cigarette Littering Statistics
About 8.9 billion cigarette butts litter Australia every year, representing 16% of all litter items scattered on highways and rural areas. It has been found that smoking has decreased in major cities and other parts of Australia, with the remaining smokers being about 2.3 million who smoke daily.
About six out of every ten Australian smokers confess to throwing away their cigarette butts on the ground while more than half of the litter stream in Western Australia consists of cigarette butts.
Somewhere between 40% and 50% of the total smoked cigarettes end up as litter across Australia, which nearly equals 18 billion cigarettes being smoked every year, thus producing something around 9 billion discarded improperly because of littering.
Each year, around 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are thrown away as litter. This makes cigarette butts remain the most multitudinous littered item in the entire planet.
Source: WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
Releasing between 25% and 40% of all litter in the world, cigarette butts have, since 1980, made up between 30% and 40% of sampled material resulting from international coastal and urban clean-up activities.
Environmental Impact of Cigarette Butt Waste
Toxic microplastics, heavy metals and toxic chemicals present in cigarette filters pose serious health threats to humans and the entire environment.
Toxic Chemicals in Cigarette Filters
Cellulose acetate microfibre is a microplastic variant, that takes time to degrade. They persist in the environment and disperse through water, soil, and air. The toxic heavy metals deposited in cigarette filters during the smoking process are primarily Zn, Ni, Sn, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Pb, and Ba.
Moreover, cigarette butts contain nicotine, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), pesticides, formaldehyde, carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, ammonia, acetaldehyde, and benzene.
Impact on Waterways and Marine Life
Cigarette butts flow mainly through poor land disposal where runoff and urban stormwater transport these from streets, drains, and beaches into rivers, lakes, and oceans. Marine animals, such as fish, invertebrates, and plankton, take up the toxins, causing physiological stress, reproductive impairment, behaviour change, and increased mortality.
Decomposition Time and Pollution Contribution
Complete degradation may last between 10 years or even more, depending on some environmental variables like soil type, moisture, temperature, and microbial activity. Laboratory experiments have shown a slow degradation rate.
Cigarette butts lose around 38% of their original weight after two years of decomposition under different environmental conditions. Low nitrogen levels still hamper the degradation in cigarette butts restricting microbial activity and environmental limitations.
It is estimated that about 300,000 tonnes of microplastic fibres from cigarette butts flow into aquatic systems every year and contribute significantly to the total microplastic content. Microplastic fibres are capable of taking up and carrying harmful chemicals like nicotine, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and heavy metals, enhancing environmental and ecological toxicity.
Legal Penalties for Cigarette Littering in Australia
Victoria: People are fined $385 for a small object such as a cigarette butt and $790 for lit cigarettes or hazardous litter. Companies are fined up to $1,923 for small objects and $3,846 for lit cigarettes.
New South Wales (NSW): A person can be fined $160 for minor items such as lighted cigarette butts, while fines can reach $1,000 for ordinary littering and $1,000 for hazardous litter such as lighted cigarettes. Court fines can reach to $2,200 for an individual and $5,000 for a corporation, with aggravated offenses (such as lighted cigarette butt littering) having a fine of up to $3,300.
Western Australia (WA): The on-the-spot fine for littering a lit cigarette butt is $500 for individuals and $2,000 for corporations. For an unlit cigarette butt, fines are $200 for individuals and $500 for corporations. The highest penalty for littering offences can be $5,000 for individuals and $10,000 for corporations.
Queensland (QLD): Fines begin at $322 for littering cigarette butts, with hazardous litter fines over $640.
Challenges in Enforcement of Cigarette Butt Littering Laws
Enforcement of cigarette butt littering laws in Australia is challenging owing to a number of practical and social challenges. Education, on the other hand, is essential to alter behaviours and effectively minimise littering.
- Observation and evidence difficulties
- High volume and prevalence of offence
- Cost and resource constraints
- Cultural and social barriers
- Limited deterrence from current penalties
What is Being Done to Tackle Cigarette Litter?
Australia has conducted various effective public education campaigns to decrease cigarette litter, which continues to be one of the most widespread types of litter across the country.
1. Keep Australia Beautiful's 'Do The Right Thing' Campaign
A long-running national campaign re-launched in 2021 to encourage Australians to decrease litter. It focuses on correct disposal of all waste, including cigarette butts. Campaign messaging reinforces that "Butts Belong in the Bin" and focuses on the toxic effects and microplastic pollution from cigarette litter.
2. Western Australia's 'Bin Your Butt' Campaign
It aims at cigarette litter through a clear message about fines for littering and that cigarette butts take over 15 years to decay. It advocates responsible disposal and includes community-based litter reporting programs.
3. Clean Up Australia Day
Clean Up Australia Day serves an important role in confronting cigarette butt litter, the most littered product in Australia and throughout the world. The day organises millions of Australians each year to physically gather litter, including cigarette butts, from varied public environments.
4. Cigarette Butt Litter Prevention Grants Program of NSW EPA
NSW EPA assists local councils, community organisations, and government agencies. It addresses the cigarette butt litter hotspots through the provision of disposal facilities, signs, and conducting education campaigns specific to the needs of the area.
Cigarette Recycling Programs in Australia
Cigarette recycling programs and pilot programs in Australia target the collection of cigarette butts to keep the hazardous waste out of landfill and create new recycling technologies.
1. TerraCycle Cigarette Waste-Free Recycling Program
TerraCycle has a free recycling program that involves participants gathering out fully extinguished cigarette waste. It includes filters, tobacco pouches, and packaging (other than paperboard) and sending them for separation and recycling into raw materials.
2. CigCycle by No More Butts
A Melbourne city environmental project gathering cigarette butts for research and recycling, focusing on circular economy methods like mycelium remediation, biochar, and bricks.
3. Waster and TerraCycle Partnership
Waster partners with TerraCycle to expand cigarette butt recycling initiatives to small and medium-sized businesses, enhancing access to recycling facilities for these businesses.
How All Gone Rubbish Removals Supports Cleaner Communities
We work with local councils, government and local businesses to assist in community-based waste management clean-ups and general rubbish removal across residential properties.
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Frequently Asked Questions
1. How many cigarette butts are littered in Australia each year?
An estimated 7 to 8.9 billion cigarette butts are discarded in Australia annually.
2. What happens if cigarette butts are littered in public spaces?
Cigarette butt littering in public areas leads to extensive environmental pollution with toxic and non-biodegradable trash and economic expense for cleanup. It includes hazards to human and wildlife health and reinforces tobacco consumption through continued environmental promotion.
3. Can cigarette butts be recycled?
Yes. Cigarette butts can be recycled through special programs that sort and process their materials into new products.
4. How long do cigarette butts take to decompose?
Cigarette filters generally take around 10 years or more to break down in the environment completely. This gradual breakdown is largely due to the fact that the filters are constructed of cellulose acetate, a tough plastic fibre that is resistant to natural breakdown processes.
5. How can businesses manage cigarette waste on their property?
Companies can effectively handle cigarette waste on their premises by implementing a combination of effective infrastructure, education, regulatory compliance, and involvement in recycling programs.
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