One early morning in April, my husband and I dragged ourselves out of bed to join the members of the Rotary Club of Upcountry Maui in an Adopt-A-Highway roadside cleanup project. In matching neon orange T-shirts and powder blue latex gloves, we spent the morning wandering along Haleakala Highway with two oversized garbage bags. A few hours later, like a pair of trick-or-treaters on Halloween, we compared the loot we had collected from our designated stretch of highway: dozens of empty beer bottles, an argyle sock, a past-due electric bill, a pair of sunglasses and… hundreds of cigarette butts.
In fact, we realized, both of our bags were brimming with smelly, slobbered-on, lipstick-stained cigarette butts.
Now, I’m not here to lecture on the dangers of smoking, and I know there are many conscientious smokers who act responsibly. But the amount of cigarette litter that day was so disturbing—and disgusting—that I had to wonder, how so many people could consciously, deliberately commit a “drive-by flicking”?
Perhaps it is purely instinct—an involuntary flick of the wrist. Or maybe it’s a temporary, nicotine-induced lapse of judgment. But on more than one occasion, I’ve watched a smoker hurl a smoldering butt from the car window while scanning the rearview mirror for any witnesses to the crime.
According to the litter prevention group Keep America Beautiful (www.kab.com), cigarette butts are the most littered item in the United States. The group says many smokers admit they will toss butts, lighters, matches and packaging materials if an ashtray is not readily available.
Well, it certainly isn’t easy being a smoker these days. In 2006, Hawai‘i passed a statewide law prohibiting smoking in all enclosed or partially enclosed public areas, limiting opportunities for smokers to puff-on-the-go. And many cars are going smoke-free too, as more automakers are swapping out lighters and ashtrays for extra storage compartments and power outlets.
This year, Maui County launched its “Butts off the Beach” campaign to clear beaches of litter, offering free, portable ashtrays to store cigarette butts. But, despite the effort, some continue to litter, offering the excuse that flicking a butt out of the window is better than driving a stinky car.
Well, whatever the excuse may be, it stinks too. According to the state Department of Health, 95 percent of cigarette butts are made of cellulose acetate, a type of plastic that can persist in the environment, taking anywhere from two to 15 years to decompose. Just imagine, if you can, countless cigarette butts buried on our beaches, strewn alongside our roadways, clogging our waterways and endangering our marine life—for more than a decade. Now, imagine if no one in a neon orange T-shirt and powder blue latex gloves came along to pick them all up…
Not to mention, a carelessly discarded cigarette butt is a virtual Molotov cocktail (wildfires, anyone?). So please, if you smoke, keep your butts to yourself, because it’s a real pain for the rest of us.