Abstract
Cigarette butts are consistently the most collected items in litter clean-up efforts, which are a costly burden to local economies. In addition, tobacco waste may be detrimental to our natural environment. The tobacco industry has conducted or funded numerous studies on smokers’ littering knowledge and behavior, however, non-industry sponsored research is rare. We sought to examine whether demographics and smokers’ knowledge and beliefs toward cigarette waste as litter predicts littering behavior. Smokers aged 18 and older (n = 1,000) were interviewed about their knowledge and beliefs towards cigarette waste as litter. Respondents were members of the Research Now panel, an online panel of over three million respondents in the United States. Multivariate logistic regressions were conducted to determine factors significantly predictive of ever having littered cigarette butts or having littered cigarette butts within the past month (p-value < 0.05). The majority (74.1%) of smokers reported having littered cigarette butts at least once in their life, by disposing of them on the ground or throwing them out of a car window. Over half (55.7%) reported disposing of cigarette butts on the ground, in a sewer/gutter, or down a drain in the past month. Those who did not consider cigarette butts to be litter were over three and half times as likely to report having ever littered cigarette butts (OR = 3.68, 95%CI = 2.04, 6.66) and four times as likely to have littered cigarette butts in the past month (OR = 4.00, 95%CI = 2.53, 6.32). Males were significantly more likely to have littered cigarette butts in the past month compared to females (OR = 1.49, 95%CI = 1.14, 1.94). Holding the belief that cigarette butts are not litter was the only belief in this study that predicted ever or past-month littering of cigarette waste. Messages in anti-cigarette-litter campaigns should emphasize that cigarette butts are not just litter but are toxic waste and are harmful when disposed of improperly.
Highlights
In addition to being the primary cause of preventable death in the United States (US), smoking is currently the leading contributor to the nation’s litter burden [1,2]; cigarette butts are consistently the most littered item in the U.S In 2009, an estimated 51.2 billion pieces of litter were recovered from roadways in the U.S, of which 38% were tobacco products [3]
In 1991, scientists hired by British American Tobacco tested how cigarette filters degraded under various environmental conditions and found that cigarette butts left on a city pavement showed no indication of degrading over two months [6]
Even though most smokers acknowledged that littering tobacco products could have damaging effects, our study found a clear disconnect between behaviors and beliefs
Summary
In addition to being the primary cause of preventable death in the United States (US), smoking is currently the leading contributor to the nation’s litter burden [1,2]; cigarette butts are consistently the most littered item in the U.S In 2009, an estimated 51.2 billion pieces of litter were recovered from roadways in the U.S, of which 38% were tobacco products [3]. Tobacco product litter cleanup is costly: an economic analysis found that cities the size of San Francisco spend, on average, between $500,000 and $6 million annually to keep their streets and parks clear of cigarette litter [5]. Limited research shows that cigarette butts do not biodegrade under typical circumstances [6,7]. Very few studies have examined the biodegradability of cigarette butts and most were sponsored by the tobacco industry during a period when they explored manufacturing a biodegradable filter [12]. In 1991, scientists hired by British American Tobacco tested how cigarette filters degraded under various environmental conditions and found that cigarette butts left on a city pavement showed no indication of degrading over two months [6]. The tobacco industry has notoriously misrepresented research findings [13], these particular studies were only recently widely available through the Legacy
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call