When smokers flick their cigarette butts to the ground, these materials aren’t just considered trash. These butts are actually toxic materials that are undeniably hazardous to the environment, to say the least. It is said that it takes a lifetime for the cigarette butt to decompose, if even ever it does. It is said that ‘cigarette butts are not biodegradable. The filters are made up of 12,000 plastic-like cellulose acetate fibers that trap nicotine and tar.’ One analysis is downright scary: ‘there’s enough nicotine trapped in 200 used cigarette filters to kill a human.’

Should these discarded cigarette butts find their way into waterways, they become toxic to life form found in these bodies of water. The litter ultimately becomes toxic to fish. This theory is backed by the findings in a new study conducted by the San Diego Sate University (SDSU). The scientific report states that filter-tipped cigarette butts, in particular, are deadly to marine and freshwater fish.

In fact, all types of cigarettes are toxic to marine life, whether they be smoked filtered cigarettes without tobacco, smoked filtered cigarettes with tobacco, or clean un-smoked filtered cigarettes. ‘All three types killed half of the fish in low concentration, although researchers at SDSU found the filter and its remnants are the most toxic part of a cigarette for fish.’

Unfortunately, 1.69 billion pounds of cigarette butts are estimated to turn into litter every year, on a global scale. Just one of these butts ‘in a liter of water can kill the fish in a period of 96 hours.’

Via blue living ideas