Reduce Smoking to Protect Our Planet

How Smoking Affects the Environment

By Beth Rush

Smoking is not just harmful to human health — it also impacts our environment. Over 700,000 metric tons of cigarette butts make their way into our waterways and roadways every year. The tobacco industry emits 84 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, underscoring the impact smoking and tobacco production has on climate change and our planet.

Understanding these consequences can help you make informed decisions and live more sustainably. Explore five ways smoking affects the environment.

1. Littering

One of the most noticeable effects of smoking on the environment is the litter caused by discarding the butts. Despite efforts to promote proper disposal, roughly 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are littered every year, making them the most littered item on the planet.

Cigarette filters are made of toxic chemicals and cellulose acetate, a plastic that takes years to break down. When tossed on streets, beaches, or parks, cigarette butts often end up in our oceans through stormwater runoff.

The harm caused by cigarette litter goes beyond visuals. Wildlife can mistake the filters for food and eat them, leading to injuries or even death. Turtles, seabirds, fish, and other marine animals are especially vulnerable to ingesting cigarette butts. Cigarette butts can block their digestive systems when consumed or release toxins into their bodies.

Cigarette butt litter can also leach harmful chemicals into our soil and water, contaminating our ecosystem and polluting the water we drink.

2. Deforestation

The tobacco industry is responsible for cutting down 600 million trees every year. Farming can deteriorate the soil and impact its capacity to grow other crops. Farmers typically burn the land to clear it before abandoning it — diminishing forest cover makes it impossible for trees to absorb the carbon dioxide emitted by tobacco production.

Tobacco farming clears millions of acres of forest, resulting in the loss of critical habitats. These forests contain diverse species that rely on trees, soil, and water to survive. As a result, farming tobacco can cause population declines or even extinctions.

3. Air Pollution

Smoking impacts the air we breathe. Its production and consumption emit as much carbon dioxide as 17 million gas-powered cars annually, according to a 2022 report from the World Health Organization (WHO). Smoke contains three major greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. It also has other air pollutants, such as formaldehyde and ammonia.

When cigarettes burn, they emit particulates that can harm both smokers and nonsmokers. The smoke leaves behind nicotine and chemicals, which can reside on indoor surfaces and expose nonsmokers to harmful toxins. While smoking can aggravate health conditions like asthma, just being around someone who smokes can worsen certain health conditions.

When smoke particulates penetrate the lungs, they quickly enter the bloodstream. This can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and respiratory conditions. Smoking is also linked to chronic back pain and osteoporosis. The carbon dioxide from cigarettes can damage spinal disk cells and blood vessels’ interior lining, causing degenerative disc disease (DDD) over time, as well as lower back pain and stiffness in the spine.

4. Water Pollution

In 2021, our beaches and waterways saw the removal of millions of cigarette butts, surpassing the numerous plastic bags and straws collected. When cigarette butts are washed into rivers, lakes, or oceans by rainwater or wind, aquatic species can ingest the toxins. It can also impact human health when we consume seafood containing these chemicals. Just the presence of cigarette butts in our water can degrade water quality and harm the overall ecosystem.

Electronic cigarettes also pose a significant threat to our water. When discarded on streets, e-cigarette cartridges can break into microplastics and chemicals, flowing into storm drains and polluting waterways. E-cigarette-related waste is potentially more severe than cigarette butts because it contains metal, batteries and circuitry in addition to toxic chemicals.

While environmental cleanup efforts are essential in removing cigarette butts and e-cigarettes from our streets and waterways, they are not enough to combat the effects of littered tobacco. Reducing tobacco use is the best way to curb the harmful effects on fish, wildlife, human health, and water quality.

5. Climate Change

Tobacco production, distribution, and consumption contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. From deforestation for tobacco plantations to the burning of fossil fuels to process and distribute tobacco products, each stage of the supply chain emits greenhouse gases that lead to global warming.

Additionally, the waste generated from cigarette production, which includes packaging materials and discarded filters, contributes to landfill methane emissions. One study found that smokers contribute almost five times more to water depletion than the average sugar consumer, ten times more to fossil fuel depletion, and four times more to climate change.