An Ad Campaign Fights Cigarette Butts as Toxic Waste

Posted on April 9, 2013 by DrRossH in Plastic Waste News

An Ad Campaign Fights Cigarette Butts as Toxic Waste – NYTimes.com.

A single cigarette butt in a liter of water containing minnows is toxic enough to kill half of the fish within 96 hours, a standard toxicity test, according to an experiment featured in an article published in the journal Tobacco Control that Professor Novotny helped write.

“We can’t show that there’s actually human harm but we should look at it as a potential harm and prevent it from contaminating the environment,” said Professor Novotny.

The belief among some smokers that cigarettes are biodegradable is incorrect, said Professor Novotny, noting that most filters in cigarettes contain cellulose acetate, a plastic substance.

Marty Butler, director of creativity at Butler Bros, said his team had considered approaches that would highlight that cigarette butts were the most commonly littered item.