is it bad to throw your ciggerets butts in the lake?

[bassmasterb007]

my buddy does this all the time,he says it just cotton, it will be fine.i do not think its bad but i would never do it. what are your thoughts on this?

[TrippyJai]

Yes it is. It's bad to throw anything into the lake for that matter.

Use a grocery bag and toss all the garbage into that. When your done fishing is done, you can throw it out. No need to litter anything.

[tyrius.]

Litter is litter.

Also, the butt is NOT made of cotton. It's made of cellulose acetate and can take as long as 10 years to decompose on their own.

Tell him to quit being lazy and throw them away correctly.

[senile1]

I'm reading this from this PDF on line. (www.lakesherwoodarrow.com/articles/0709/CigButts.pdf )

Quotes:

Against popular belief, cigarette filters are not made of cotton. They are made from cellulose acetate, which is a plastic. Most filters decompose in approximately ten years, but it can take up to 22 years for one filter butt to decompose in some situations.

They're NOT biodegradable and they don't just blend back into the

ecosystem. They remain as trash for decades and the poisons collected in the butts, bleed into the lakes and fish and children who swim in the lakes and play on the beach. It only takes 5 milligrams of

nicotine per pound to poison a pet.

How do cigarette butts contribute to water pollution? The chemicals contained in tobacco litter contribute to non-point source pollution when carried through storm drains by rainfall and urban runoff to our lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters, and even our underground sources of drinking water. Non point source pollution has harmful effects on drinking water supplies, recreation, fisheries, and

wildlife (Source: www.CigaretteLitter.org ).

How do cigarette butts impact aquatic life? The EPA's aquatic bioassay studies provide evidentiary conclusion that one cigarette butt per 2 liters of water is acutely toxic to water fleas a planktonic animal that occupies a critical position in the food chain of aquatic ecosystems by transferring energy and organic matter from algae to higher consumers such as fish. Water fleas are widely used to determine acute toxicity of chemicals in aquatic invertebrates. The toxic

chemicals that leach from a cigarettes' cellulose acetate filter and remnant tobacco are a biohazard. One hundred percent of the animals died after 48 hours in the concentrations that were equivalent to the chemicals found in two or more used cigarette filters (Source: US EPA, Aquatic Invertebrate Acute Toxicity Test for Freshwater Daphnids, 1996).

[Slip Gun]

Absolutely - tell him to just throw them into an empty soda can. The moisture puts them out and it makes a very convenient carry source.

[roadwarrior]

Well...Here's another take...

I fish pubic ponds a lot and I carry a trash bag stuffed in my

pocket. On any given day, I remove a few cans, bottles and

wrappers. I suggest everyone give this a shot, it's really no

big deal once you get started.

8-)

[Lucky Craft Man]

Hmmm...How about Cigar Butts?

[senile1]

Well...Here's another take...

I fish pubic ponds a lot and I carry a trash bag stuffed in my

pocket. On any given day, I remove a few cans, bottles and

wrappers. I suggest everyone give this a shot, it's really no

big deal once you get started.

8-)

I agree.  However, for butts that are thrown in the water the leaching of chemicals into the ecosystem may have already occurred and the damage is done.  See the link I posted above.  We need to pick up what we can, but it would be great if we could influence some people to just not litter with cigarette butts.

[tyrius.]

Well...Here's another take...

I fish pubic ponds a lot and I carry a trash bag stuffed in my

pocket. On any given day, I remove a few cans, bottles and

wrappers. I suggest everyone give this a shot, it's really no

big deal once you get started.

I do that too, but it's better to stop people from littering in the first place.

[bassmasterb007]

i did not know they were made of cellulose acetate. thank for the info, i will tell him to not do that any more. i learn something new here every day! i love this site

[Dan:]

Hmmm...How about Cigar Butts?

I have been wondering that as well. Cigars are just leaves wrapped together so they must decompose pretty quickly.

[Bassnajr]

Yes,

Unlike cigars which are , for the most part, "natural", cigarettes are filled with nasty checmicals. YUK!!!!

[Raul]

Hmmm...How about Cigar Butts?

Cigar butts are made of the same tobacco the cigar is made from, even though they can decompose pretty fast ( being organic ) they are still tobacco which contains nicontin which is a very powerful poison.

Don 't trash them in the lake either.

[Shawn OConnor]

I'm not sure but anything that didn't start there probably shouldn't be there.  Easy rule, leave it how you found it or better.  Always pick up trash when you see it and dispose of it properly.  Easy controllable thing you can do to make a difference for others.  

[steezy]

Well...Here's another take...

I fish pubic ponds a lot and I carry a trash bag stuffed in my

pocket. On any given day, I remove a few cans, bottles and

wrappers. I suggest everyone give this a shot, it's really no

big deal once you get started.

8-)

X2 and people that know me will tell you, I am the trash police and will not hesitate to remind others with me to pick and not leave a mess.  I use the example that if every fisherman dropped 1 soda can on the ground or in the water, in a very short time the fish would all be dead cause the water would be full of cans.

[mrlitetackle]

this is a good thread,

with info i never knew about the cigarette butts.....

i smoke on occasion, but always put them in an old gatorade bottle, or water bottle.... i always have one of the two with me....

i never figured they would do much harm to the water, but not being the type to litter.... i always disposed of them properly.

some great info was posted here,

thanx to all!

[cabullwinkle]

Who gives a crap about what cigar butts or cigarette filters are made of!  Do they occur naturally in the lake?  NO.  So pack them with you! >

[nitro929]

gather up all the butts you find open his door dump them in his living room bout the same thing as putting them in our lakes haul out more than you brought in

[RoLo]

Well...Here's another take...

I fish pubic ponds a lot and I carry a trash bag stuffed in my

pocket. On any given day, I remove a few cans, bottles and

wrappers. I suggest everyone give this a shot, it's really no

big deal once you get started.

8-)

Super suggestion!

Instead of belly-aching about someone else's litter, just round it up and haul it off.

One day after work I took a fellow worker along to do some deer hunting with bow & arrow.

As we were suiting up to go on stand, I noticed a candy wrapper in the fallen leaves behind my car.

I didn't actually see Jim ditch the wrapper, so I simply tossed it into the trunk of my car without saying a word.

Then the next time I opened my trunk Jimmy noticed the candy wrapper and said, "Oh, did you pick that up Rog?".

I said, yeah of course Jim, that's the least we can do after getting permission to hunt this man's land (he got the message).

Roger

[slider head]

This has been informative. I never thought what the butts were made of. But from reading the initial post i said.....they cant be made of cotton...if they were once they were wet they would sink.

I hate to see em floatin in the lake. Only thing worse is to pull up to a busy intersection and see hundreds on the ground about a inch deep!

[tnhiker44]

As a smoker I was not sure of the actual make up of a butt, but it is pretty obvious that they do not decompose rapidly... just look around. I always have a can in my boat for butts. And every time out I try to pick up at least one piece of trash that some other soul was kind enough to leave for me to find. Next time you are out on the water just pick up one piece of trash... chances are you will not have to go out of your way to find it.

I live in the cotton belt here in Georgia and I can tell you first hand that cotton does not decompose rapidly any way. There are ruminants from last years crop still laying around along the roadside.

[Dan:]

Hmmm...How about Cigar Butts?

Cigar butts are made of the same tobacco the cigar is made from, even though they can decompose pretty fast ( being organic ) they are still tobacco which contains nicontin which is a very powerful poison.

Don 't trash them in the lake either.

But how much damage can the butt end of a cigar actually do before it decomposes? How much nicotine would it take to kill fish or plant life? How much is in the butt of a cigar?

[Muddy]

Better watch it Dan, before you wind up as the butt end of some jokes on this thread ;D

[Long Mike]

Let me know when someone does the research to find out how many cigarette butts it would take to poison a lake of say, 20,000 acres.  In the meantime, I will continue to flick my butts into the water.  If this is of great concern to you, let me know and I will start marking a waypoint on my GPS every time I flick a butt.  After I get off the lake I'll provide you with the exact coordinates to enable you to search for those nasty, poisonous, polluting little cigarette butts.    :

[DINK WHISPERER]

Who gives a crap about what cigar butts or cigarette filters are made of! Do they occur naturally in the lake? NO. So pack them with you! >

X2