Cigarette butts biggest scourge along Canada's shores

[rick]

By Greg Joyce, THE CANADIAN PRESS

VANCOUVER - While the plastic bag is often vilified as the prime polluter of Canada's coast, a nationwide clean-up effort has found that a type of trash many Canadians toss without a second thought is piling up on the country's shorelines.

Cigarette butts - by the tens of thousands - are the No. 1 item recovered during the annual TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup.

Eric Solomon, vice president of conservation, research and education, at the Vancouver Aquarium, said few Canadians seem to recognize cigarette butts are trash.

"Many people who would never throw, for instance, a plastic bag on the ground, would go ahead and toss a cigarette butt on the ground and step on it and leave it there," he said.

The annual cleanup was initiated by the aquarium more than a decade ago and TD Bank signed on later as a sponsor.

A recent survey done in advance of this year's cleanup next month shows only 18 per cent of Canadians believe cigarette butts are the top blight on our shorelines.

But during last year's cleanup of shores across the country, volunteers collected well over 270,000 cigarette butts, Solomon said.

That's two and a half times more than the next most common item, which was food wrappers.

Solomon noted it takes anywhere from five to 15 years for the filters in the butts to break down, providing lots of time for clueless birds, fish and marine mammals to mistake them for food.

"Because there's no nutritional value, when an animal eats a cigarette butt or several cigarette butts, they feel full and can actually starve to death," he said.

The results of the shoreline cleanup survey were released Wednesday and indicate that 49 per cent of Canadians believe plastic bags are the major pollutant on shorelines.

The annual cleanup is scheduled for Sept. 20-28 at more than 1,000 sites across the country.

Last year 50,000 volunteers removed almost 90 tonnes for garbage from streams, rivers, lakes and oceans. This year, organizers are anticipating about 70,000 volunteers will get involved.

Matthew Fortier, regional manager of the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation, said volunteers essentially pick up everything that shouldn't be there, including tires and shopping carts.

"An antique sewing machine was found last year," he noted.

[smerchly]

I just read that a few minutes ago Rick (T.O.Sun) . In todays society , in Ontario for sure , our environment is your ash tray .Those who dump their stinking butts anywhere they please have NO say about garbage anywhere when they are the worst offenders . I pick up fishing line & Timmies cups & plastic bottles etc. when I am fishing , but I will not pick up butts or cig. packages . It's about time BIG fines are handed out . I can still remember the days when ash trays were used in vehicles . We have become so careless with our kids play ground........

Facts About Litter

What is Litter? Common litter items

The single most common litter item in UBC is the cigarette butt. Cigarette butts make up half of the litter on campus. Other common forms of litter include paper, wrappers, disposable containers from food outlets, glass bottles and bottle caps, plastic and metal containers, and the list goes on and on.

Cigarettes - the big litter problem

• Composed of cellulose acetate, a form of plastic, cigarette butts can persist in the environment as long as other forms of plastic.
  
• They are also dangerous to wildlife. Cigarette butts have been found in the stomachs of birds, dogs, cats, and squirrels.
  
• Cigarette smoke contains up to 4000 chemicals.
  
• Cigarette butts take up to 12 years to break down.
  

[longmayyourun]

I am an angler, outdoorsman and a smoker. The solution is simple. I have a portable ashtray that I purchased at giant tiger. Plastic water proof match containers also work well for cigarette butts. Lets not go after the smokers... go after those that litter. It is the fibre glass filters that are the problem, the rest is biodegrabable. Fishing line is a big problem, and should never be left behind. If you want a good count of the trash that goes into our lakes, take a walk on the shore of the whirlpool any time of year. Plastic tampon holders, tennis balls, bic lighters, foam, and I have notice that plastic water bottles are a real problem. The strangest thing I have seen floating there...other then a human body.. a bloated pig.

whirlpool

[Guest canada]

I just read that a few minutes ago Rick (T.O.Sun) . In todays society , in Ontario for sure , our environment is your ash tray .Those who dump their stinking butts anywhere they please have NO say about garbage anywhere when they are the worst offenders . I pick up fishing line & Timmies cups & plastic bottles etc. when I am fishing , but I will not pick up butts or cig. packages . It's about time BIG fines are handed out . I can still remember the days when ash trays were used in vehicles . We have become so careless with our kids play ground........

Facts About Litter

What is Litter? Common litter items

The single most common litter item in UBC is the cigarette butt. Cigarette butts make up half of the litter on campus. Other common forms of litter include paper, wrappers, disposable containers from food outlets, glass bottles and bottle caps, plastic and metal containers, and the list goes on and on.

Cigarettes - the big litter problem

• Composed of cellulose acetate, a form of plastic, cigarette butts can persist in the environment as long as other forms of plastic.
  
• They are also dangerous to wildlife. Cigarette butts have been found in the stomachs of birds, dogs, cats, and squirrels.
  
• Cigarette smoke contains up to 4000 chemicals.
  
• Cigarette butts take up to 12 years to break down.
  

I remember the days when I was allowed to smoke beside an ashtray and but out. The stinking public forced us out into enviroment now there whinning because of the problem. Freaking non smokers wha wha wha get over it ya cry babies

[bigugli]

The hard truth is that Canadians still don't care enough about the land they live in. When I smoked, it was taboo to dump butts into the water or toss your trash out of the boat or onshore. When a fire ban, or risk warning was issued, you did not toss a cigarette out the window. All of that has gone by the wayside and been forgotten. Take a close look around you. Southern Ontario is a pig sty.

There is so much litter that grounds keepers no longer pick up the trash. It is far easier, and cheaper, to shred it with the mower into smaller, less noticeable bits, thereby camoflaging the pollution.

How many backroads have become dumping grounds for people too cheap too pay the dump fees.

In short, the problem is not this group or that group. Canadians, for the most part, have become slobs. Embarassingly, that includes my own offspring.

[Guest canada]

The hard truth is that Canadians still don't care enough about the land they live in. When I smoked, it was taboo to dump butts into the water or toss your trash out of the boat or onshore. When a fire ban, or risk warning was issued, you did not toss a cigarette out the window. All of that has gone by the wayside and been forgotten. Take a close look around you. Southern Ontario is a pig sty.

There is so much litter that grounds keepers no longer pick up the trash. It is far easier, and cheaper, to shred it with the mower into smaller, less noticeable bits, thereby camoflaging the pollution.

How many backroads have become dumping grounds for people too cheap too pay the dump fees.

In short, the problem is not this group or that group. Canadians, for the most part, have become slobs. Embarassingly, that includes my own offspring.

Give me a break, there isn't a farm in Southern Ontario where the farmer didn't have his own dump in the bush walk around the escarpment it won't take long to find a dump of 25yr-50yr old cans and such.I used to timber cruise the local woodlots and 9 out of 10 had a dump site filled with every thing form old cars, equipment, tires, ferilizer bags and all around garbage! Nothing like the good ole days when they filled in Hamilton Harbour and made it toxic waste dump, or Love canal , or Martindale Pond, they use to use the eastwall of Port D as a dump for wire and cable! The good ole clean generation that had so much respect for the enviroment

Litter is not a new problem of this generation the only thing changing is the public is more aware! The good ole days don't make me laugh people have been dumping there crap all over the place for centuries.

[bigugli]

Give me a break, there isn't a farm in Southern Ontario where the farmer didn't have his own dump in the bush walk around the escarpment it won't take long to find a dump of 25yr-50yr old cans and such.I used to timber cruise the local woodlots and 9 out of 10 had a dump site filled with every thing form old cars, equipment, tires, ferilizer bags and all around garbage! Nothing like the good ole days when they filled in Hamilton Harbour and made it toxic waste dump, or Love canal , or Martindale Pond, they use to use the eastwall of Port D as a dump for wire and cable! The good ole clean generation that had so much respect for the enviroment

Litter is not a new problem of this generation the only thing changing is the public is more aware! The good ole days don't make me laugh people have been dumping there crap all over the place for centuries.

Which is why, if you actually understood "English" I said "Canadians 'STILL' don't care enough about the land we live in".

[Smokin Joe]

I heard this; this morning on the radio. As a few of you know I tend to have a smoke or two however I learned a long time ago about the time it takes for a butt to break down. That's why as many of you have witnessed I field strip them and throw the butt in my pocket till I reach a garbage can.

Sure it makes doing laundry a pain at times but the five minute clean up is well worth it in the long run.

Just my two cents.

[hammercarp]

I believe the litter problem has gotten worse over the last ten years. There was a short period of about ten to fifteen years when litter was on the decrease but today because we have made getting rid of garbage a more time consuming process( just check out what you have to do at home now) people are not taking their trash home with them. Last year I went for a walk out of Bronte's Petrocan park in the middle of the week, just at the beginning of the chinook run. I then went again after the weekend and was appalled by the mess left behind.

[Guest canada]

Which is why, if you actually understood "English" I said "Canadians 'STILL' don't care enough about the land we live in".

I still dissagree, I think Canadians as a whole are getting the message and are way more enviromentally concious then ever before. The problems are the average Canadian still can't compete with the corporate dollars or certain provincial and federal governments that take the big cash flow over the enviroment Alberta oil sands for example. There is always going to be a few that just don't get it and continue to litter and don't get me going on who is trashing up my fishing area, I know first hand who the culprits are right now and I don't want to start a big rant on here!!!! Most Canadians however are very enviromentally concious and our big cities and such are the cleanest in the world and we have made great strides in the past few decades to clean up years of waste left from previous generations. We are not perfect, we still live in urban areas and litter and pollution will always be a problem in such areas but for the most part I think the population is getting the idea and I think we care about our land more now then ever before.

Oh ya I do understand English dude and I even got a few choice words for you

[smerchly]

Ha ! I knew this article would ruffle some feathers ...... . We have had many threads about garbage in general , with pictures , and as Canada said it's been going on for years . He also stated that we have come a long way in mending our ways with more people concerned about our (kids) environment . They are now concerned about the millions of plastic bottles that we toss all over & London Ont. has banned them in government buildings & hopefully , all schools & stores etc. We are still a fat cat society with a very high standard of living & garbage is a bi-product of consumers who can afford to pay more for a bottle of water than gasoline . .....like 1000% more .Even the low income people can afford alcohol & nicotine . Since we are starting to show some concern about our environment , they are targeting cig.butts & plastic bottles . I was saddened to see hundreds of butts on the ground at our medical center as people would toss them before going to see the doc. (cough) . One of my old buddies was fined by a co for leaving a small piece of gasline hose on the ice before he even had a chance to leave , & I know he would not have left it on the ice .........but would he have been fined if a few butts were left ? Maybe soon that will happen .....beware the plain cloths guy fishing next to YOU !!!!! ( they are going to getcha dude)

[Guest canada]

Ha ! I knew this article would ruffle some feathers ...... . We have had many threads about garbage in general , with pictures , and as Canada said it's been going on for years . He also stated that we have come a long way in mending our ways with more people concerned about our (kids) environment . They are now concerned about the millions of plastic bottles that we toss all over & London Ont. has banned them in government buildings & hopefully , all schools & stores etc. We are still a fat cat society with a very high standard of living & garbage is a bi-product of consumers who can afford to pay more for a bottle of water than gasoline . .....like 1000% more .Even the low income people can afford alcohol & nicotine . Since we are starting to show some concern about our environment , they are targeting cig.butts & plastic bottles . I was saddened to see hundreds of butts on the ground at our medical center as people would toss them before going to see the doc. (cough) . One of my old buddies was fined by a co for leaving a small piece of gasline hose on the ice before he even had a chance to leave , & I know he would not have left it on the ice .........but would he have been fined if a few butts were left ? Maybe soon that will happen .....beware the plain cloths guy fishing next to YOU !!!!! ( they are going to getcha dude)

hahahahah........I'll soon have to hide in the bushes to have a smoke, I already know most of the plain clothes dudes, and I'm not worried but from now on I will try and disspose of my buts in a more enviromentaly friendly way to keep the frigging cry babies from balling there poor little eyes out It don't matter though they'll just find something else to whine and cry about! As for water bottles they need a deposit on them and you'll see the problem solved quick, a beer can or bottle don't last 1 day at Port D before the dudes got in there basket on it's way back to the brewery. As for bottled water I drink it because the city water taste like crap, it may be clean but it taste like a chemical milkshake to me! Actually my empty water bottle will make a good outdoor ashtray.

If you ban bottled water then ban pop and juice and coffee cups, hey farmers polute with fertilizer, lets ban farms then all we have to do is ban food , everyone dies problem solved

[smerchly]

here's a guy who is cashing in 22,600 beer cans he collected (or drank) . Maybe he will buy a new hat or something.........

Good on ya dude for listening to the ole smercho ......I'll be watching you with my night binocs & when I see you put that butt in the bottle , I'll buy you a coffee !

[Dan Andrews]

Well Dude I think you got it right except one thing. We're not whining. We're simply taking a stand or pointing something out that should have been pointed out years ago. It takes little effort to put your butt where it belongs instead of the water.

Don't scorn anyone for being environmentally conscience. Both you and I have little habits that could use a tune up. Would be nice if we could admit it gracefully seeing as we both know how to point an angry finger ourselves.

Come on Dude don't call us names. Make a little change, set an example and put your ciggy butts in the trash. I give ya a little kiss for your efforts

[dr_feelgood]

Make a little change, set an example and put your ciggy butts in the trash. I give ya a little kiss for your efforts

I'll be there with the camera