Why do smokers......

[storzo]

They bother me because they're just gross. I'm always picking up trash from around my home, but I won't even touch those cigarette butts. I don't even use my broom on them. I usually take a stick and push it down into the drain, which is something I don't even like to do. I refuse to touch it because someone's mouth was on it.

Smoking bothers me tremendously because after I am all showered and dressed for the day and I feel all nice and clean, if I happen to walk past someone who is smoking, that ruins it for me. Now my hair is smelly, my clothes are smelly and I feel dirty. I've also inhaled second-hand smoke which is twice as letha than that of the smoke inhaled by the smoker. That means someone's habit has a direct effect on me.
My grandfather died from emphysema. He stopped smoking when I was threee. He passed when I was 30. Twenty seven years of not smoking and he was still affected by it

I never said I was better than any smoker, I'm sorry if you felt that way.
BTW, it's good to hear you pick up after your dog. Living in the city, we've Always picked up after our dog. It's just common courtesy

To the first part of you answer, ok I can accept that. Personally I find all litter gross because I don't know where any of it has been. This morning alone I had to pickup a piece of plastic wrap, a lottery ticket, an ice cream wrapper, a store sale circular and a soda can. That was just in front of my house! There was not one cigarette butt. I guess that's why I don't understand the difference, litter is litter. Unless you're talking lit cigarettes that I get.

The second part has nothing to do with this topic so I won't address it except to say I can understand your feelings.

To the last paragraph, I've seen some posts here quoted that have "storzo" on top of them but that I did not post. I don't know why this is happening. I don't feel anyone here thinks anyone is better than anyone else, we just all have different opinions. Although I do pickup after my dog.

I am quoting you Corryn becuase you were the last/most recent to post an answer to my question. I am not attacking you in any way. I just want to say I understand to all who find the butts worse because of the mouth factor and to explain why its all the same to me. Also to explain some of the quotes attributed to me are not mine. I feel your last paragraph might have been in answer to some of those. If I am wrong I am sorry.

 

[ChrizJen]

I think maybe even more than the littering aspect of it (and that part gets to me too, don't get me wrong) is when I walk into a store and there's a butt still burning on the ground! If you're going to throw the nasty thing on the ground anyway, why not stomp it out so that the rest of us don't have to smoke it?!??!

And don't get me started with how, on a nice day, I'll pull up to a stoplight with my windows down, and someone beside me or in front of me is holding a cigarette out the window. Just sitting there holding it out the window. Maybe taking a puff here or there, but mostly just holding it out there for ME to smoke. THANKS!! But I choose NOT to smoke because I'm allergic to it. But by all means, share yours with me! PLEASE!

 

[declansdad]

To the first part of you answer, ok I can accept that. Personally I find all litter gross because I don't know where any of it has been. This morning alone I had to pickup a piece of plastic wrap, a lottery ticket, an ice cream wrapper, a store sale circular and a soda can. That was just in front of my house! There was not one cigarette butt. I guess that's why I don't understand the difference, litter is litter. Unless you're talking lit cigarettes that I get.

I think it is because the original situation was describing the scene outside the typical office/mall/store door. Those are the areas where you see tons of butts, even when there is a disposal right next to the door.

 

[goofyernmost]

Why do non-smoking people sit in their diesel belching BMW's and criticize some for littering the highway with a few "quickly" biodegradable cigarette butts. Cigarette's are made of thin paper, tobacco and cotton fibers. All nature and all degradable almost instantly.

Shut off your engines first, you are doing far more harm to the environment.

 

[lovetomow]

Why do non-smoking people sit in their diesel belching BMW's and criticize some for littering the highway with a few "quickly" biodegradable cigarette butts. Cigarette's are made of thin paper, tobacco and cotton fibers. All nature and all degradable almost instantly.

Shut off your engines first, you are doing far more harm to the environment.

I sure hope you don't drive if you gonna try that lame line of thought!

 

[declansdad]

Why do non-smoking people sit in their diesel belching BMW's and criticize some for littering the highway with a few "quickly" biodegradable cigarette butts. Cigarette's are made of thin paper, tobacco and cotton fibers. All nature and all degradable almost instantly.

Shut off your engines first, you are doing far more harm to the environment.

Here is some Information for you:

So What If I Throw My Butts on the Ground? They're Biodegradable, Right?



WRONG!! If you throw your cigarette butts on the ground, they eventually find their way to the ocean and other water sheds and YOU are contributing to the most commonly found man-made waste that originates from land! "The Ocean Conservancy, a nonprofit environmental organization based in Washington, D.C., compiled the results of a shoreline cleanup day conducted by volunteers last year in 68 countries. It covered a combined 34,000 miles of shoreline and collected 7 million pounds of litter, 80 percent of which had been washed from land into the water. Of the 7.7 million items of debris collected worldwide in 2006, cigarettes and cigarette butts accounted for roughly 1.9 million, the sixth consecutive year they have topped the list.
"People think they are biodegradable," said Kathryn Novak, coordinator for the Florida branch of the Ocean Conservancy. They're not, so think before flicking that cigarette butt out the car window."
Read more at: http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/961351/cigarette_butts_prove_a_lasting_drag/index.html
The hope is that if smokers knew how much they are polluting the oceans and other natural water sheds, they might think twice about throwing their cigarette butts out the car window or stomping them into the ground rather than disposing of them in a proper waste receptacle.
Here are some statistics taken from the Surf Rider Foundation’s website. The level of environmental pollution cigarette butts contribute to our oceans and other water sheds is enough to anger anyone, but more importantly, change behaviors :
Litter Statistics

• In just one day 230,000 cigarette butts were collected from California beaches during the 2000 Coastal Cleanup Day. Cigarette butts were the number one trash item found (http://www.cigarettelitter.org).
• According to the Ocean Conservancy, cigarette butt litter accounts for one in every five items collected during cleanups, making it the most prevalent form of litter on earth.
• There are over 176,000,000 pounds of discarded cigarette butts in the United States each year.
• Over 4.5 trillion cigarettes are littered worldwide each year. They are the most littered item in the world (http://www.cigarettelitter.org).

[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]Most cigarette filters are composed of cellulose acetate, a form of plastic. The white fibers you see in a cigarette filter are NOT cotton, but a plastic that can persist in the environment as long as other forms of plastic.[/FONT]

 

[goofyernmost]

I sure hope you don't drive if you gonna try that lame line of thought!

I don't even smoke...but everyone's finger pointing that smokers must be one of the worlds worst poluters is just bull. Clean up one's own back yard and then point out the flaws of others. And explain to me how that is lame. Don't preach to me about my possible contribution to polution until you can be sure that you are not guilty. That was my point.

I defy a cigarette butt to be sturdy enough to make it to an ocean unless someone is smoking on the beach. They quickly disintegrate into almost nothing and disappear. Quote all the articles you want to, I prefer to believe what I actually see.

 

[C.Ann]

Probably the same reason that I found 18 empty beer cans on my property at the lake when I got here - 16 across the road - and probably saw at least 100 more while taking my daily walks.. All left by the snowmobilers over the course of the winter.. Laziness - pure and simple.. What makes it even more pathetic though is half of these snowmobilers don't even have jobs and they're tossing money they could get back from their empty cans on other peoples properties..

Doesn't matter what kind of litter it is - litter is litter - and people who do it are lazy and inconsiderate.. They all belong in the same category: litterbugs..

 

[declansdad]

I don't even smoke...but everyone's finger pointing that smokers must be one of the worlds worst poluters is just bull. Clean up one's own back yard and then point out the flaws of others. And explain to me how that is lame. Don't preach to me about my possible contribution to polution until you can be sure that you are not guilty. That was my point.

I defy a cigarette butt to be sturdy enough to make it to an ocean unless someone is smoking on the beach. They quickly disintegrate into almost nothing and disappear. Quote all the articles you want to, I prefer to believe what I actually see.

So are you saying those stats are made up?

 

[Humphrey Bear]

I defy a cigarette butt to be sturdy enough to make it to an ocean unless someone is smoking on the beach. They quickly disintegrate into almost nothing and disappear. Quote all the articles you want to, I prefer to believe what I actually see.

I don't know about making it to the ocean, but they last a long time thrown on the ground. The do not quickly disintegrate. I have worked in landscaping and let me tell you, people will throw them out on tree lawns all winter long and come spring there can be hundreds of them left over sitting in the lawns. Each and every one of them has to be picked up as they explode in a ball of fluff when mowed over or they embed themselves in the lawn. The smokers in the group were always voted to have to pick up the butts. After doing this job, they never tossed them out on the ground again!

All of them always said they never knew it was a problem until they had to clean them up.

 

[Corryn]

I am quoting you Corryn becuase you were the last/most recent to post an answer to my question. I am not attacking you in any way. I just want to say I understand to all who find the butts worse because of the mouth factor and to explain why its all the same to me. Also to explain some of the quotes attributed to me are not mine. I feel your last paragraph might have been in answer to some of those. If I am wrong I am sorry.

No biggie

 

[Chipmunk89]

I know someone compared it to leaving a dirty diaper on the ground, but it would be more like someone tossing a dirty diaper out the window on a highway and letting it land where it may.

Actually, I wasn't comparing leaving diapers on the ground to throwing cigarette butts anywhere.

Why do smokers (the ones that do this) think it's ok to toss their cigarette butts wherever they happen to be when they are done with the cigarette? I just walked from my car in the parking garage to my building and there are dozens upon dozens of cigarette butts all over the ground.

We have a single smoking area at the building. Yet, there are cigarette butts everywhere.

I thought the topic was "why smokers think it's ok to litter".
OP, basically asked why smokers litter. I said for the same reason people (Notice I didn't say Smokers) leave dirty diapers in a parking lot.

For the same reason ANYONE litters, they're lazy, inconsiderate, rude people.

 

[smidgy]

I thought the topic was "why smokers think it's ok to litter".
OP, basically asked why smokers litter. I said for the same reason people (Notice I didn't say Smokers) leave dirty diapers in a parking lot.

For the same reason ANYONE litters, they're lazy, inconsiderate, rude people.

I agree! this is not "smokers vs. non-smokers" this is 'litterers vs. non-litterers" littering is disgusting!!! whether it is a cig, butt, a candy wrapper, or... the worst... chewed gum on the ground, just waiting for you to STEP IN! I smoke, and never flick a butt out my window, never leave a butt on the ground. I also never leave a candy wrapper anywhere. in the morning, leaving the gas station, I'm amazed to see people scratch off their lottery tickeet, and disposse of the losing tickets on the ground, when there is a garbage can RIGHT THERE! I have seen smokers put their cig. butt out on the ground, RIGHT NEXT TO! and ashtray! some people litter, and some of us pick up after ourselves.