Adopt the right gesture: the cigarette butt is in the trash, not elsewhere. This small waste, which is found everywhere in town and on the beaches, is indeed particularly destructive to the environment. “It contains 2,500 toxic substances, fifty of which are really problematic and carcinogenic”, points to franceinfo Virginie Guérin, president of the World CleanUp Day association. This association for the defense of the environment organizes an annual waste collection in September all over the world.
The next edition is scheduled for September 13-17. And cigarette butts, 13 million of which were collected in France last year, will be particularly targeted. “Half the small fish die after 96 hours” if they are put in water polluted by a cigarette butt, and the other animals will rather ingest the waste and see it “disintegrate into small pieces of plastic “, explains Virginie Guérin. By its toxicity, the cigarette butt therefore represents “a considerable impact on biodiversity” and has been classified as “hazardous waste” by the national institute for the industrial environment and risks (Ineris), specifies the president of the association.
So, when you know that it takes “between two and twelve years for a cigarette butt to degrade”, it is better to act as soon as possible. From this month of August, “people who wish can do operations” with World CleanUp Day. For the association, the major annual operation “aims to unite citizens from all over the world, at the same time”, and serves as an awareness tool. Because the best waste collection is the one that does not need to be done.