Cigarette Butt Box

Cigarettes make up more than one-third of all collected litter. This is equivalent to 38% of litter. Roughly 75% of smokers report tossing cigarette butts, costing cities roughly 3-16 million dollars annually to clean them up. Furthermore, tossed cigarettes excrete toxic chemicals that are hazardous to the environment, contaminating water and poisoning wildlife.

Additionally, cigarettes are not actually biodegradable, sitting out years and polluting the environment before chemical breakdown is done. I have decided to design this project as a way to promote awareness about how cigarette butts impact our environment.

Two of the lid designs included a turtle. This is because cigarette butts are the biggest ocean polluter, being found in 70% of seabirds and 30% of sea turtles. In fact, since 1986, the Ocean Conservancy has collected more than 60 million cigarettes from various beaches.

Rather than sitting idly, do your part. Print your cigarette butt holder with a design you like,