Cigarette Butts in America

Many organizations devote themselves to cleaning up after others on Earth Day but some do it every day. And one item in particular is a re-occurring sight for street workers like Jim Yorkey. "Litter would be, of course cigarette butts," said Jim Yorkey, a street worker for the city of Elkins. 287 billion cigarettes were sold in the United States last year. And many of those don't make it in the trash, making it the most littered item in America. "Everyone knows somebody that just throws their cigarette butt just right out the window," Yorkey said. Even with cigarette butt containers easily accessible, some butts just never make it to the can. "There's places for cigarette butts and a lot of people use them. But there's a lot of people that don't," Yorkey said. Yorkey said the numbers are getting higher and he believes he knows why. "The smoking ordinance," Yorkey said. "Restaurants and establishments downtown usually have containers where people can put stuff inside, but know they can't smoke inside buildings everyone goes outside to smoke." In addition to being unsightly, untrashed butts are problematic. "One thing I see is when it's fire season dry grass," Yorkey said. "It could cause a fire." Not to mention the carcinogens and heavy metals that can end up in waterways. "I don't know what happens at the treatment plants," Yorkey said. Or the expensive clean up costs. Cigarettes aren't biodegradable. The streets in Elkins are cleaned just about every day, so you may not have noticed just how many butts make it on the ground and not in the trash. "On an average day, I would say that number is probably between 500 and 700," Yorkey said.