Smoking and the environment

Did you know that smoking not only harms your health but also has a big impact on our environment? Let’s explore some ways cigarettes can hurt the world around us.

  • Land Use: Farm Land Diversion: Instead of growing our food, some land is used to grow tobacco for cigarettes. This land could feed up to 20 million people!
  • Cigarette Butts: Every day, 200 million cigarette butts are thrown away in the UK alone! The plastic in them takes up to 12 years to break down.
  • Tree Loss: Globally, 6 million trees are cut down every year just to make space for growing tobacco.
  • Cleaning Costs: In Hull, about £900,000 a year is spent on cleaning the city centre. Guess what? 40% of the litter (about 400 tonnes) is related to smoking!

Deforestation

Tabacco farming leads to deforestation, where large areas of trees are cleared, harming our environment. Tabacco farming now accounts for an estimated 200,000 hectares of woodland being removed each year.

Climate Change

The process of making cigarettes can contribute to climate change by releasing lots of gases. This happens when trees are burned for heat or when gas is used to fuel burners. Clearing the trees also removed the earths natural filter, making the effects of these greenhouse gasses even more significant.

Hazardous Waste

Making tobacco uses harmful chemicals that end up in the soil and water. This can be bad for plants, animals, and even the food we eat. The disposal of tobacco slurries, solvents, oils, paper, wood, plastics, packaging materials and airborne pollution all have long term effects on our environment.

Litter Pollution

Did you know that 40% of street litter is from smoking? That’s a lot of cigarette butts, matchsticks, and packaging! It’s like dropping 122 tonnes of smoking-related litter every day across the UK.

Marine Pollution

Cigarette butts are the most common form of litter, found on 79% of surveyed sites. Some people even think it’s okay to throw them down the drain (52% of smokers who smoke every day)!

  • 200,000 hectares of woodland are removed each year to make way for tobacco production.
  • The tobacco curing process produces large amounts of carbon dioxide and other gasses, these chemicals pollute the atmosphere which contributes to climate change (global warming).
  • Tobacco production uses large amounts of fertiliser and other highly toxic substances that find their way into the soil, watercourses and eventually into the food chain.
  • An estimated 40% of street litter is smoking related. 122 tonnes of smoking related litter is dropped every day across the UK.
  • Dropped cigarette butts are the most common form of littering and have been named the single greatest source of ocean pollution.
  • The making of cigarettes produces large quantities of waste, such as solvents, oils, paper, wood, plastics, packaging materials and airborne pollution. These all have long term implications for the environment.

Let’s all do our part to keep our environment clean. Remember, throwing cigarette butts on the ground is not okay. We can help by using proper bins to dispose of them. Together, we can make a difference and keep our world healthy and happy. Bin the butt!

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