TIL Cigarette butts are the most common form of plastic pollution
TIL Cigarette butts are the most common form of plastic pollution
Cigarette butts are the most abundant form of plastic waste in the world, with about 4.5 trillion individual butts polluting our environment.
If you needed yet another reason to quit smoking, here it is.
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I live in the US and it's becoming more and more unusual in many places to see people smoking. As a result, I see fewer discarded cigarette butts than ever. Still not zero, but getting there.
It's one of those big cultural shifts that has gone on in my life slowly but steadily. I recall my school bus driver would smoke doing his rounds, people smoking almost everywhere, even grocery stores. My family had lots of smokers, 3 out of my 4 grandparents smoked, all paid the piper, the habit led to their demise. Vending machines selling cigarettes everywhere. I recall it first was restricted on airplanes, with smoking sections separated with curtains, then in restaurants. A lot of it was ineffective and mostly symbolic, but then the biggest change was when California banned almost all indoor smoking in businesses, other states followed suit over the next decade. That combined with all the legal problems the tobacco industry had in the 90s has really caused a dramatic shift.
It's the hardest thing about traveling to Europe for me. I love being in Europe, but after living in a part of the US with almost no smokers it is jarring to smell cigarette smoke everywhere on the streets there.
I get nostalgic whenever I smell cigarettes, which is very rare these days.
"hmm, the smell of cancer, addiction and poverty!"
I think in Europe it's just the smell of cancer, addiction, and Europeans
I live in the U.S. too and I still see a ton here in Indiana, but we also apparently have a nicotine addiction epidemic here that no one talks about much.
As of 2022:
Nearly 29% of Indiana adults currently use tobacco. Combustible cigarettes are the most used tobacco product, followed by e-cigarettes.
I remember when I left Indiana 25 years ago that it was the highest per capita state for smoking, with Kentucky being number 2.
I'm in Western NY, but even in NYC it's less than 9%. The state offers a lot of support for quitting, perhaps that's why.
Aren't cigarettes like $15 a pack there? That probably has something to do with it.
That's exactly it. I'm a smoker from one of the states with the lowest taxes on cigarettes. I'm heading to New York in a couple of weeks and I'll be stocking up before I leave. If I lived there I would quit, can't justify spending that money. I've already switched to a cheaper brand that has deals at Sheetz that make them roughly $5 a pack.
I've never done this myself, but I've known a couple people that take a ton of cigarettes with them when they go to New York. This is highly profitable and highly illegal.
They're $15 throughout the state. So they're probably more in the city.
Reservation cigarettes negate those prices though.
Reservation cigarettes negate those prices though.
TIL that, on at least some Indian reservations in the United States, cigarettes are sold, sold at a lower price and sold to the general public. I could not find a reference on Wikipedia; all I found was a seemingly unofficial webpage.
The reason they're cheaper is because they don't need to charge tax on them. Regular cigarettes are the same price, but they have all of the taxes on top of that, which makes them cost three times as much.
That's interesting there isn't anything on wiki about it. It's not a secret or anything.
The reason they're cheaper is because they don't need to charge tax on them.
I understand. Thank you for confirming it.
I've heard people here in Europe sometimes save on cigarettes in a similar way, by buying them across the border, where taxes are lower, or in duty-free shops at airports, but that's possibly outdated or even made-up hearsay I've never checked.
That's interesting there isn't anything on wiki about it. It's not a secret or anything.
There may be something I missed, or it might be such an inconsequential and uncontroversial phenomenon that no one deemed it worth documenting.
You don't have to go to the rez, or be a Native. We used to buy cartons at the Indian smoke shops in Tulsa. $1 pack in the 90s.
I doubt there's much support here at all and there was pretty much a red wave in this state in November, so there will probably be even less next year.
So what would you be your solution?
Why do I need a solution to recognize a problem? Or are you saying that many addicts is a good thing?
how harmful do you consider tobacco in the context of booze?
This post being about plastic waste caused by cigarettes, I'm not sure why you're whatabouting alcohol.
It came up on the context of nicotine and how much people are addicted, yet i don't see the uproar of the people who throw their empties into the river or on the road.
Because people were already aware of the problems there and, just based on comments, many people aren't even aware that cigarette filters are plastic.
Do you bring up cigarettes whenever alcoholism is mentioned or is this only a one-way street?
i always bring it up when people defend it but alienate smokers
Is it a contest?
No, i dont think so, i just don't think its fair to demonize smoking if we celebrate drinking. everyone has a vice.
When did I celebrate drinking? Both addictions are huge burdens on the healthcare system.
Both should be demonized.
Is it just being replaced by other equally bad habits? I just found out that disposable vape pens are a thing. Those have plastics and electronics inside. I have no idea what the numbers there are.
Although vaping has become really big, there's a lot more people quitting smoking than there are picking up vaping.
And vaping is not equally bad by a long shot. Cigarettes are far worse for you. Also, vaping isn't nearly as annoying for the people around the user. I say all this as a cigarette smoker myself.
Those disposable vapes are disgustingly wasteful. Apparently you can take them apart and make them reusable or repurpose the battery, but very few people are going to mess with that.
there's a lot more people quitting smoking than there are picking up vaping
Sadly, in Australia, this isn't the case. We had very, very low smoking rates, and vaping has opened up the floodgates to new nicotine addicts, many, many of which never even tried cigarettes.
I'm pretty annoyed about it, to be honest.
Another generation who will reap the rewards of cancer, which will be a massive cost to society. Financially and emotionally.
I really hope we can stem the tide.
I can't claim to know the future, or more than doctors have described, but it really does seem that vaping is much better for your health compared to cigarettes.
You can feel it. Once you get used to vaping it doesn't hurt at all. Meanwhile, after smoking for essentially my entire adult life, if I smoke too many I'll feel it hard the next day.
I'm not claiming they're the same as cigarettes. Just that if they hadn't come along, a huge number of people (in Australia) may never have picked up a nicotine addiction at all.
And that's a shame :(
I'm just saying nicotine isn't very likely to give someone cancer and strain healthcare than the fucking 100+ chemicals, tar, and ash that are in what I smoke.
Nicotine itself is not cancerogen! The stuff that gives you the big C are the combustion byproducts, and vaping does not combust anything. The main ingredients of the used liquid are vegetable glycerin, which is harmless, and propylengycole, which is also quite harmless. The only thing where there isn't enough information yet are the used aromas, which are the same as the stuff that gets added to our food; there is not much data regarding inhalation of those.
Sure, it would be far better if they didn't vape (especially if they didn't smoke before - i am using it instead of tobacco as harm reduction), but at least you can relax regarding the size of the health impact.
Weed is more or less legal and available everywhere in the US.
That's not at all true.
Legal everywhere, no. Available everywhere, yes.
I love smoking. I know it's killing me. I realize it stinks to other people. I never smoke indoors. I try my best to be considerate of others and never throw my butts on the ground.
But it's getting a bit ridiculous the demonizing of smokers in the US. If I walk to the edge of a business's property where there is literally no one and smoke a cigarette, I shouldn't be harassed by cops or security to cross the street, go several blocks away, or similar.
LE are just assholes. I vape now but have dreamed of just hand rolling cigs ahead of time. Biodegradable, smells better, tastes better
not if you put the little filters in them
Agreed on first point.
But when you hand roll do you use those tubes with a filter? I doubt it since you said biodegradable. The only times I hand rolled were when I was broke. A bag of Bugler with papers was like $2.50 back in the day. Roughly 50 cigarettes the way I rolled. But damn that shit killed my lungs. I'm sure a nicer brand would be better all around but no filter smokes fuck me up.
I never smoked hand rolls regularly; they didn’t feel bad in the moment but we were working with cardboard standoffs, not really much of a filter in that case. It’s probably for the best I’ve moved on from that
just light up a joint instead. it's the greener alternative.
Absolutely, good for you. But if you smoke joints like I go through cigarettes you're on Snoop's level.
I never see people smoking in the Puget Sound area. I saw people smoking all over NYC when I was there.
If you know people at the right bodega you can get them much cheaper because they're illegally imported from the south. Additionally, if someone is working in NYC they probably make better money than people in most other places, so $15 to them isn't the same as $15 to me.
I was in the city a few years ago and my (latino in appearance) co-worker told me about a shop where he got some cheap packs. I (white in appearance) went to the shop about an hour later and was sold New York cigarettes at a ball-busting price. That's just the reality some places.
If you're curious, you can look at the bottom of the cellophane to find the tax stamp, which will tell you the state they were taxed for sale in
Nice. NYC tobacco tax is outrageous, so is Washington State.