Different faces of cigarette butts, the most abundant beach litter worldwide.

Cigarette butts (CBs) are non-biodegradable residues of synthetic origin, prevalent on beaches all over the world. The study evaluates discarded CBs on an intensely used urban beach, determining variations in physical and chemical characteristics. CBs collected were observed, classified, and visually separated according to a proposed scale of four levels of degradation to test the potential match between physical and chemical decay. CBs (un-smoked, smoked, and discarded) were used to determine the average length (cm) and mass (g) in order to observe changes in these parameters among the levels. Cigarette butts experience consecutive mass loss during environmental exposure. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images were obtained to assess physical changes in fibers due to smoking. FTIR-ATR was used to assess CBs new (un-smoked), smoked, and discarded samples in relation to cellulose acetate decay. The FTIR-ATR spectroscopy of the most visually degraded cigarette butts indicated modifications in the spectra when compared to un-smoked cigarettes.

From Plant to Waste: The Long and Diverse Impact Chain Caused by Tobacco Smoking.

Smoking is a social phenomenon of global scope. The impacts start from the cultivation of the plant to the disposal of cigarette butts in the most diverse places. These aspects go beyond economic and public health issues, also affecting natural environments and their biota in a serious and indistinct way. Of the six trillion cigarettes consumed globally each year, four and a half trillion are disposed somewhere in the environment. Cigarette butts are predominantly plastic, non-biodegradable waste, prevalent in coastal environments in various parts of the world, and with high potential for generating impacts on a wide range of socioeconomic and environmental aspects. Among the 5000 compounds found in a cigarette, those with higher toxic potential are mainly concentrated in the filter and in tobacco remnants, which are items found in discarded cigarette butts. After surveying published studies on this topic, the present study addressed the interaction between the impacts related to tobacco smoking, highlighting the problem as an important and emerging issue that demands joint efforts, and actions especially focused on the reduction of environmental impacts, an aspect that has not yet been assessed.

A critical review of the issue of cigarette butt pollution in coastal environments.

Beach anthropogenic litter is a worldwide problem and has been discussed in the specialized literature for decades. Cigarette butts (CB) are the most frequent form of personal item found on beaches. Yearly, 6 trillion cigarettes are smoked worldwide, and 4.5 trillion cigarettes are littered in the environment. The objective of our review was to assess the relevant literature on the issue of CB in costal environments, including urban areas. We compile and discuss studies (1998-2018) of CB sources for coastal environments, composition/degradability, quantification on beaches, toxicity to aquatic organisms and existing strategies to abate the problem. The literature shows that despite the growing interest in marine litter, this specific issue remains little studied and information is limited in time and space. Studies have been undertaken on islands, continental coasts, estuaries and coastal cities. There area wide variety of approaches to classification; for example, CB are considered plastic in 19% of studies and placed in an isolated category in another 16%. It was possible to identify the main sources of CB in coastal environments and access to the marine biota. In conclusion, we list and discuss proposals for reducing smoking, littering and marine pollution as a contribution to reduce the problems caused by CB in coastal and marine environments. CAPSULE: Cigarette butts are a pervasive, toxic and recalcitrant type of marine litter that requires urgent attention from manufacturers, users, authorities and the public to prevent the ingestion of cigarette butts by biota and water pollution from its leachate.

Plastic debris retention and exportation by a mangrove forest patch.

An experiment observed the behavior of selected tagged plastic items deliberately released in different habitats of a tropical mangrove forest in NE Brazil in late rainy (September) and late dry (March) seasons. Significant differences were not reported among seasons. However, marine debris retention varied among habitats, according to characteristics such as hydrodynamic (i.e., flow rates and volume transported) and relative vegetation (Rhizophora mangle) height and density. The highest grounds retained significantly more items when compared to the borders of the river and the tidal creek. Among the used tagged items, PET bottles were more observed and margarine tubs were less observed, being easily transported to adjacent habitats. Plastic bags were the items most retained near the releasing site. The balance between items retained and items lost was positive, demonstrating that mangrove forests tend to retain plastic marine debris for long periods (months-years).

On the importance of size of plastic fragments and pellets on the strandline: a snapshot of a Brazilian beach.

Virgin plastic pellets and plastic fragments are reported as ubiquitous beach contaminants in the peer-reviewed literature. A surface density of 0.3 virgin plastic pellets and plastic fragments per square centimeter of the strandline area was registered on an urban beach of the northeast of Brazil. This beach is presently not affected by petrochemical facilities or pellet processing plants. The main source of fragments (96.7%) was attributed to the breaking down of larger plastic items deposited on the beach. In the case of virgin plastic pellets (3.3%), the main sources were the marine environment and possibly nearby port facilities. This category of plastic pollutant offers particular threats to the marine environment and to beach users.

Ideal width of transects for monitoring source-related categories of plastics on beaches.

Although there is a consensus on the necessity of monitoring solid wastes pollution on beaches, the methods applied vary widely. Therefore, creating, testing and recommending a method that not only allows comparisons of places and periods, but also the detection of source signals, will be important to reach the objectives of the source-prevention principle. This will also allow the optimisation of time, resources, and processing of samples and data. A classification of the items found into specific categories was made according to their most probable source/use (fisheries, food packaging, hazardous, sewage/personal hygiene, beach user, general home). This study tested different widths of sampling transects to be used in the detection of plastics contamination on beaches, until all the categories were significantly represented. Each transect had its total width (50m) sub-divided into eight intervals of 0-2.5m; 2.5-5m; 5-10m; 10-15m; 15-20m; 20-30m; 30-40m; and 40-50m. The accumulated number of categories in the 50m (up to 2.5m; up to 5m and so on) was used to determine the minimal width necessary to qualitatively characterize the area regarding plastics contamination. The diversity of the categories was directly related to the area of the sampling transect. These results indicate that a significant increase in the number of categories in the first intervals tend to stabilize from 15-20m onwards.