As per environmentalist Nirit Datta, over 20 global scientific institutes have proven that cigarette butt pollution is as harmful as plastic pollution for the environment
World Environment Day lesson: Cigarette butt pollution is as harmful as plastic pollution for the environment. Instagram/butt_rush
Cigarette butts cause pollution and are non-biodegradable, as proven by several studies. The impact of cigarette butts on the environment, however, could be far worse than we think it is.
Since May 2018, the European Union (EU) has been trying to tackle the top 10 types of litter found on Europe’s beaches — the second most common being cigarette butts.
In order to understand its actual impact and consequences, Firstpost spoke to Nirit Datta, an environmentalist and the founder of ButtRush. ButtRush is India’s first environmental movement against cigarette butt pollution.
When asked about how the organisation began, Datta said, he was an environmentalist and a smoker at the same time. It was an article, he had accidentally come across that talked about cigarette butts being hazardous for the environment, which led to Datta noticing the “brilliant PR and whitewashing” by tobacco companies.
He realised that cigarette butt was the most found litter on the planet and thus was born ButtRush.
How it works
The model that ButtRush operates under is a 24-hour marathon process. The members of the organisation collect cigarette butts from the streets for 24 hours. Along with the cigarette butts, the volunteers collect data in order to frame a “sustainable and economically viable” solution for the stakeholders of both government and private sector to deal with the issue.
Issues with current recycling patterns
According to Datta, the existing cigarette butt recyclers in India are using unsustainable means and are, hence, causing more harm than good. He said these recyclers mostly use cigarette butts as stuffing for soft toys, bean bags, cushions, etc. The recyclers dip the cigarette butts into a solution in order to clean them and later use as stuffing. According to the environmentalist, the cleaned butts are very toxic as they are made of microplastics.
He added, “Can you understand what a huge risk the consumers of these products are going to face? Also the solution that is used to clean these butts has a huge quantity of heavy metals and chemicals. Where are they dumping this solution? Into the drains. So all these heavy metals and chemicals are also going into our environment.”
Datta concluded that by this process is doing more harm than good. He alleged that these recyclers are paid by the tobacco companies as a part of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).
EPR refers to the responsibility for management of the disposal of products by producers once those products are considered no longer useful by consumers. It is the commitment made by a producer to facilitate a reverse collection mechanism and recycling of post-consumer waste.
But Datta points out that recycling alone isn’t the solution. This is because recyclers across India do not even recycle one per cent of the total cigarette butts that are thrown on the streets, he said. The process involved in recycling these butts is even more harmful for the environment, he added.
What can be done
According to the ButtRush founder, the solution is divided into three parts:
Awareness
Placing specialised cigarette bins in hotspot zones since it is impossible for the ragpickers to collect even 10 per cent of the butts thrown every day
Recycling
How bad is it
To highlight the adverse impact of cigarette butts, the environmentalist explained that the butts consist of microplastics and lead to heavy metal contamination, impacting both, the freshwater and marine water ecosystem. He added that it also degrades the quality of the soil.
Datta said, ButtRush has been approached by tobacco companies for sponsorships but the organisation had to decline since they all had a common ask, to remove “microplastics” from their posters. Datta said this is how these tobacco companies have been greenwashing the harm cigarette butts are causing to the environment.
ButtRush impact
When asked about the impact Datta and his organisation have had so far, he said, “so far, we have done 12 marathons in over 10 states and Union Territories with around 640 volunteers, covering a distance of over 3,500 kms. Overall, we have collected over seven lakh cigarette butts. Though we have reached over eight million people through our awareness campaigns, we do not take pride in these numbers.”
He added, “We have also interviewed over 1,400 smokers in order to understand their psychology and how they dump the cigarettes. After collecting the butts, we identify the cigarette brands and areas where we find the maximum number of cigarette butts. We mark these areas as hotspot zones.”
Datta said that even though there are organisations that have said that cigarette butts are not harmful for the environment, giving a clean chit to the tobacco companies, over 20 global scientific institutes have proven that cigarette butt pollution is as harmful as plastic pollution for the environment.
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