So you shot him? Right call

It was a vain attempt at humour.

eh, i prefer the nanoplastics - microplastics make my cells feel funny

Interesting.

“cigarette filters take years to be broken down in the open”

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulose_acetate

Not that I doubted you at all, I just wanted to get a bit more detail. The whole article is rather interesting in how we’ve used CA as a society and what happens to it. In some cases, according to the above, the product can be biodegraded using cellulaise and exposure to 280nm or smaller wavelengths of light to promote the process; the cellulaise is only present in very bio-active soil, which isn’t common in places where smokers will be tossing their butts, the filter is usually protected by paper wrap, so even sitting in the open where it can be bombarded with direct sunlight, there’s going to be a significant delay before any UV can reach the CA in the filter.

I’m extrapolating from the Wikipedia article for that last bit… but it’s logically sound. Between the difficulty of UV reaching the CA, plus the absence of any additional substances to aid in the degradation of the CA, it would take substantial time to degrade. Though it’s derived from either cotton or wood cellulose.

It’s fascinating stuff.

I’ve never regularly smoked cigarettes, and I’ve always had an issue with people just flicking their butts wherever they want. Now I have scientific information to support that discomfort, so thanks

I couldn’t find anything scientific specifically about cigarette ash, so I’m just reasoning from common sense.

Part of the problem of filter tips are heavy metals. I hypothesize that not all the metals are converted to gas and sucked into the filter while the cigarette is lit. Therefore there must be heavy metals remaining in the ash. These seep into the ground and ground water, whether the ash starts out on a parking lot or in a park.

If that’s dangerous to plant life depends on the plants living there. Tobacco, for instance, seems to handle them well (that’s how the metals get into the ash in the first place: tobacco sucks them out of the ground). “[S]ensitive plants growing in sites with heavy metals exposure show altered metabolism, growth reduction, and reduced biomass production and reduced yield.” [1]

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-41552-5_4

I don’t smoke anymore either, but when I did I bought pure cotton filters that were biodegradable in case they left the bin somehow.

That’s nasty, I have a nice burn hole in my jacket because someone tossed a lit cigarette out of their window and it landed in my jacket hoodie while riding a motorcycle.

I’ve since quit, but me and my friends would dispose of our butts properly. The problem is like a single asshole can toss 20+ butts in a day. So it’s really obvious when people are shitheads, but you’ll basically never notice people are functioning members of society.