Apr 22

Written by: George Marchewa
4/22/2008 7:05 PM

.... insist on flinging cigarette butts everywhere? Its unthinkable to throw your bag of McTrash out the car window but flinging your butt into the street or on the ground is OK?

??#@!#!?!#@@#!

I had the pleasure of telling a kid who was waiting at the bus stop (which they put right in front of my house without even asking) that had "dropped" his cigarette butt on my lawn.

He was apologetic, which honestly I was hoping he wasn't going to be, and picked it up but jeezus, why do that in the first place.

Some Facts

• Cigarette butts are NOT biodegradable and can take up to 15 years to break down.

• Animals sometimes mistake them for food and after ingesting the cigarette, can die due to the toxic chemicals.

• The incidence of cigarette butts on beaches is constantly increasing.

• When these cigarette butt chemicals enter our streams, lakes, rivers, and oceans they are a significant threat to aquatic life.

• It is estimated that several trillion cigarette butts are littered worldwide every year. That's billions of cigarettes flicked, one at a time, on our sidewalks, beaches, nature trails, gardens, and other public places every single day.

• Cigarettes are the most littered item in America and the world.

• One cigarette butt in two gallons of water will leak toxic chemicals within an hour of being exposed to the water.

• Discarding cigarette butts on streets, parking lots, walkways, lawns, and beaches is a violation of litter laws and has been proven to have a severe adverse impact on the environment - the water, air, and land.

Oh, happy earth day.

Copyright 2008 George Marchewa

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