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submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by DrownedRats@lemmy.world to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.world

I live in a country where smoking has generally been on the decline for a while now but even still I see thousands of cigarette butts in just about any public place. They litter the sides of the road, bus shelters, alleyways, outside clubs, bars and pubs, public toilets, park benches and just about everywhere else. Its even extending to disposable vapes now as well.

For the most part, where I live doesn't have that much of other kinds of litter about and is generally clean. And most public bins and all smoking areas have ashtrays and dedicated cigarette bins so it wouldn't be hard to dispose of them properly like any other piece of rubbish and even then there's often cigarette butts within sight of the bins and ashtrays.

Why then do people have a completely different approach for cigarettes?

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[-] itsgroundhogdayagain@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 months ago

They don't consider it littering. That the cigarette butt will somehow just magically degrade like a fallen leaf. It truly is remarkable how selfish smokers can be.

[-] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 2 months ago

As a former smoker who carried my cigarette butts until I found a trash can, I truly hate those assholes.

[-] DashboTreeFrog@discuss.online 0 points 2 months ago

My first time hearing the word "biodegradable" as a kid was after asking my dad why he threw his cigarette butts into the water when we were fishing.

[-] intensely_human@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago

“You’re biodegradable kid, so don’t ask so many questions”

[-] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 0 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

At least some of them probably genuinely believe that, and AFAIK it is more or less true for filterless butts. Maybe we should replace some of the gore pics we have on cigarette packets with information about environmental effects ...

[-] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago

Like how birds collect the butts and use them to prevent parasites in their nests?

[-] thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

more like how many animals eat then and get poisoned.

[-] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Yeah, that too.

[-] cley_faye@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

If someone doesn't care about themselves, why would they care about other or littering.

[-] Free_Opinions@feddit.uk 1 points 2 months ago

Somehow they seem to think that one small cigarette butt is so insignificant that it doesn't matter despite the fact that they can see these small cigarette butts literally everywhere.

[-] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 0 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Maybe it's because smokers already have to make the decision to blow toxic smoke around where other people (most of them non-smokers nowadays) are likely to breathe it in - it's pretty much an inherently anti-social activity nowadays, so the step to littering your smoking trash isn't that big. Maybe related to broken window theory?

[-] ChillPill@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Came here to comment on how smokers seem to congregate specifically around doors to public buildings (businesses, hotels, restaurants, ect) despite having had legislation for years that requires them to be anywhere from 5-10 metres from any inlet to a building (air vent, hvac, door, window, etc)

this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2025
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