Cigarette butts are the plastic, usually brown filters left behind when you finish smoking and they are a considerable source of pollution.
According to Gizmodo, some claim discarded cigarette butts are the most ubiquitous form of litter on the planet. Researchers at Anglia Ruskin University in the UK conducted a simple experiment using cigarette butts. They left behind various kinds of butts; unsmoked, smoked, and smoked with some of the cigarette still remaining in pots of freshly seeded grass. They monitored the plant’s growth and compared them to control plants with pieces of wood the same size as the butts left behind.
The pots with butts in them showed a slower rate of seed germination, shoots were stunted and some roots were smaller than control plants.
Researchers say the likely cause of the stunted growth in these plants is the cellulose acetate plastic found in the filters.
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