Study: Littered Cigarette Butts Significantly Reduce Plant Growth

Most cigarette butts contain a filter made of cellulose acetate fiber, a type of a bioplastic. Around 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are littered every year, making them the most pervasive form of plastic pollution on the planet. A research team headed by Anglia Ruskin University’s Dr. Dannielle Green have discovered that cigarette butts reduce germination success and shoot length of some plants.

Littered cigarette filters reduce growth and alter short-term primary productivity of terrestrial plants. Image credit: Green et al, doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2019.109418.

Littered cigarette filters reduce growth and alter short-term primary productivity of terrestrial plants. Image credit: Green et al, doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2019.109418.

“Cigarette butts are currently the most abundant form of anthropogenic litter on the planet, yet we know very little about their environmental impacts on terrestrial ecosystems, including plant germination and primary production,” Dr. Green and colleagues said.

“When discarded, filters contain a myriad of chemicals resulting from smoking tobacco and some still contain unsmoked remnants.”

In greenhouse experiments, the researchers assessed the impacts of discarded filters of regular or menthol cigarette, either from unsmoked, smoked, or smoked cigarettes with remnant tobacco, on the growth and development of Lolium perenne (perennial ryegrass) and Trifolium repens (white clover).

They found that the presence of cigarette butts in the soil reduces the germination success and shoot length (the length of the stem) of Trifolium repens by 27% and 28% respectively, while root biomass (root weight) reduced by 57%.

For Lolium perenne, germination success reduced by 10% and shoot length by 13%.

Filters from unsmoked cigarettes had almost the same effect on plant growth as used filters, indicating that the damage to plants is caused by the filter itself, even without the additional toxins released from the burning of the tobacco.

“Despite being a common sight littering streets and parks worldwide, our study is the first to show the impact of cigarette butts on plants,” Dr. Green said.

“We found they had a detrimental effect on the germination success and shoot length of both grass and clover, and reduced the root weight of clover by over half.”

“Ryegrass and white clover, the two species we tested, are important forage crops for livestock as well as being commonly found in urban green spaces. These plants support a wealth of biodiversity, even in city parks, and white clover is ecologically important for pollinators and nitrogen fixation.”

“Many smokers think cigarette butts quickly biodegrade and therefore don’t really consider them as litter. In reality, the filter is made out of a type of bioplastic that can take years, if not decades, to break down,” she said.

“In some parks, particularly surrounding benches and bins, we found over 100 cigarette butts per square meter. Dropping cigarette butts seems to be a socially acceptable form of littering and we need to raise awareness that the filters do not disappear and instead can cause serious damage to the environment.”

“Although further work is needed, we believe it is the chemical composition of the filter that is causing the damage to plants,” said Dr. Bas Boots, also from Anglia Ruskin University.

“Most are made from cellulose acetate fibers, and added chemicals which make the plastic more flexible, called plasticisers, may also be leaching out and adversely affecting the early stages of plant development.”

The findings were published in the journal Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety.

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Dannielle S. Green et al. Cigarette butts have adverse effects on initial growth of perennial ryegrass (gramineae: Lolium perenne L.) and white clover (leguminosae: Trifolium repens L.). Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, published online July 18, 2019; doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2019.109418

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