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This season, volunteers throughout Maine, including us, will participate in community clean-up events, collecting over a million cigarette butts from our streets, lawns, and beaches. Cigarette butt contamination is no small issue. Each one contains dozens of hazardous chemicals, including arsenic, lead, and nicotine.
While we celebrate our efforts, we believe that our service is exploited by the cigarette companies. They must know how hazardous used filters are and they don’t take the actions necessary to rid our communities of this poisonous garbage.
These companies have convinced us that the trillions of butts discarded around the world each year represent a litter problem rather than a very significant toxic waste problem for which we think they should be held accountable.
There are several important efforts underway to change our focus to corporate culpability. One of these is including cigarette butts into Maine’s producer responsibility law, which would mean that these companies provide the state with a plan for their tobacco waste clean-up and provide the funding for it. The Legislature can also ban cigarette filters since the World Health Organization has determined that cigarette filters provide no proven health benefit to smokers.
We urge communities to start enforcing their cigarette litter ordinances as well, something that is rarely done now.
Please notice cigarette butt contamination as you walk our streets and sidewalks. This should not be our problem. We are tired of doing these corporations’ dirty work. We hope you are too.
Kate Hanson
Kris Shula
Dianne Torresen
Linda Meadows
Graduates
Penobscot Bay Stewards Program
Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition
Belfast
