Caitlin’s last blog post..Photo Friday: Hidden rays, Nemo and other fabulous sea creatures

If we look at the composition of a cigarette:

- Paper Tube : Made from paper : is biodegradable.
- Tobacco : Plant material : is biodegradable.
- Fiber filter : Made from wood pulp (Cellulose acetate) : is biodegradable.

Now, the filter fibers are held together with something called triacetin plasticizer, which is a firming agent. This also however is biodegradable.

Issues may present due to environmental factors such as lack of moisture, or sever cold. However, any environmental factors slowing the decomposition of a cigarette filter will also slow the decomposition of any other biodegradable product.

After searching online for various companies and researching prices, I decided to buy from http://www.FreshSmoking.com . They’ve got the best prices, their starter kits are only $49.95 and the rest of their accessories and cartridges are much cheaper than any I’ve seen. Also, their customer service was amazing and I received my order lightening fast. I highly recommend them.

first, you’re pulling your numbers from websites & organizations that are organized around stopping smoking? no doubt all of the facts from buttout and preventcigarettelitter.org, then, are completely accurate and don’t represent any pandering, distortion, or twisting of facts to further a particular outcome. people shouldn’t cite to wikipedia, much less an activist group, when it comes to putting a spine in your argument.

second, i’m not seeing where on the preventcigarettelitter.org site where it says cigarette littering is increasing. i see the 28% drop in people smoking, but the website follows that by saying that cigarettes are still the number one most littered item in the united states. just because less people are smoking doesn’t mean that more cigarettes are being flicked into the street by remaining smokers. i think the mistake made here is that the author concluded that the number of butts in planters and gutters must be a fixed number in order to remain at the #1 most-littered-item spot.

perhaps we should consider that, much like smoking itself, littering is on the decline as americans as a whole have been taking a more active role in keeping their neighborhoods and communities clean. you see, if 28% less people are smoking now, but also 28% less people are littering, cigarette butts will probably stay atop the garbage heap.

i agree with the thrust of this blog; people probably should quit smoking regardless of what they do with their butts, and certainly shouldn’t be throwing butts into storm drains and planter boxes. however, using one-sided references and making questionable conclusions isn’t the best way to present the issue.

With eco consciousness becoming the cool thing to follow, it might make a difference to remind smokers that their butts aren’t biodegradable. It won’t necessarily get them to quit (and shouldn’t – it’s a valid personal choice) but maybe it will help them remember to be more conscious of what they smoke and where they toss their filters.

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