# The World Is Not Your Trash Can **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 6, 2008, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401 "2008-09-06T22:30:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/41 "2008-09-07T02:16:59Z")
> [@5-HT](#): > > The city does. They pay people to clean them. I accept that there are probably times that my cigarettes get missed by the street sweeper, and because of that, my habit is an undesirable one. You’re just not going to convince me that it makes that big of a difference though. What kind of shitball logic is that? Do you also evacuate your bowels right there in the gutter, since a street sweeper that “they” paid for is going to come by eventually? After reading your responses I now understand why most big cities smell like the ass end of an elephant in the summertime. Everybody figures somebody else is going to clean up the mess. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/42 "2008-09-07T02:33:12Z")
[QUOTE=5-HT] So I guess the lesson is, if your city is managed and maintained like Detroit, don’t be surprised if people throw garbage on the ground. [/QUOTE] The actual lesson is that if you have a couple million people like **5-HT** roaming around being pigs and figuring it’s no big deal, your city will be a sewer. [quote=Hyperelastic\*\*They were at that stage where they’d developed a sort of dry, dark-brown crust , yet were not completely dry[/quote] How perfect-sounding! Shades of Betty Crocker… ---
**Author:** ![Mince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Mince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mince)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/43 "2008-09-07T02:34:14Z")
> [@5-HT](#): > > If you see someone spit on the street, do you assume they also spit in their homes? No, because most people consider spitting and disposing of cigarettes in their homes utterly heinous. Paradoxically, many of those people don’t mind doing it when their property isn’t involved. If randomly tossing your cigarette on the ground is “no big deal,” why don’t you do it in your own home? Why would it bother you if others did it? ---
**Author:** ![Mince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Mince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mince)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/44 "2008-09-07T02:39:37Z")
> [@5-HT](#): > > Why would you trash my lawn? Because I just don’t give a shit. Someone will clean it up. It’s not my problem. You’re just not going to convince me that it makes that big of a difference. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/45 "2008-09-07T02:40:48Z")
> [@5-HT](#): > > You’re just not going to convince me that it makes that big of a difference though. > [@](#): > > \*\*Cigarette Butt Litter > > What’s the Problem?\*\* > > Cigarette butt litter is a major problem at our beaches, in the ocean and throughout the watersheds which carry water, trash and debris to our beaches. **Cigarette butts discarded in parking lots, along sidewalks and in street gutters miles from the coast inevitably make their way through storm drains, creeks and rivers to the beach and the ocean.** Direct litter of cigarette butts at the beach adds to the problem. **It isn’t just a matter of unsightly trash and litter. Toxins from cigarettes collect on the filter and are then washed out into our waterways and the ocean.** Birds and sea mammals ingest the butts, thinking that it’s food. All of us can do things to eliminate cigarette litter throughout our watersheds. > > . . . > > **Litter Statistics** > > [ul] > . . . > > [li]According to the Ocean Conservancy, cigarette butt litter accounts for one in every five items collected during cleanups, making it the most prevalent form of litter on earth.[/li][li]There are over 176,000,000 pounds of discarded cigarette butts in the United States each year.[/li] > . . .[/ul] **Economic Costs** > > [ul]. . . > > [li]Some of the costs are associated with the manpower and resources to pick up litter. Who picks up litter? Employees of parks, schools, hotels, restaurants, and local governments have to pick up litter, as well as volunteers who care about the environment.[/li] > . . . > [li]Other costs are incurred when a discarded cigarette butt starts a fire that destroys a forest, a field, or people’s homes. Fires caused by cigarette butts claim the lives of about 1,000 people and injure about 3,000 people each year.[/li] > . . .[/ul] **Environmental Cost of Cigarettes** > > [ul] > [li]Filters and plastic wrap from cigarette packages remain in the environment for long periods of time. Cigarette butts are composed of cellulose acetate, a form of plastic, which can take many (estimated 2 to 25) years to decompose. Cigarette butts may seem small, but with several trillion butts littered every year, the toxic chemicals add up![/li] > . . . > [li]Plastic pieces have been found in the stomachs of fish, birds, whales, and other marine creatures that mistake them as food, swallowing harmful plastic and toxic chemicals. Ingestion of plastic cigarette filters is a threat to wildlife. Sometimes even young children pick up and ingest cigarette butts.[/li][li]Wind and rain often carry cigarette butts into waterways, where the toxic chemicals in the cigarette filters leak out, threatening the quality of the water and the creatures that live in it.[/li][/ul] [http://www.surfrider.org/a-z/cig\_but.asp](http://www.surfrider.org/a-z/cig_but.asp) You poison my world and are unrepentant and unwilling to stop. You really ought to be ashamed of yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/46 "2008-09-07T02:46:27Z")
> [@5-HT](#): > > Sorry, I just don’t care enough not to toss my cig on the ground. Then you’re an asshole. That is all. Thank you **Shayna** for being very specific and analytical and outlining exactly why this is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/47 "2008-09-07T02:49:07Z")
> [@Mince](#): > > Because I just don’t give a shit. Someone will clean it up. It’s not my problem. You’re just not going to convince me that it makes that big of a difference. Snap. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/48 "2008-09-07T02:56:15Z")
> [@Jolly\_Roger](#): > > Thats why I say screw McCain and Obama. Elect me as dictator. People that do these things will be subject to public whippings. Arrrgh, matey! Flog ‘em with a cat o’ nine. And fer the severely mutinous, keelhaul 'em. ---
**Author:** ![5-HT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/f19dbf/32.png) [@5-HT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5-HT)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/49 "2008-09-07T03:00:55Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Then you’re an asshole. \*sniff I just don’t know how I’ll keep going in this life without your approval, random internet person ---
**Author:** ![5-HT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/f19dbf/32.png) [@5-HT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5-HT)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/50 "2008-09-07T03:02:27Z")
> [@Mince](#): > > Because I just don’t give a shit. Someone will clean it up. It’s not my problem. You’re just not going to convince me that it makes that big of a difference. Well, if you’re dead set on the idea, go ahead I guess. Its mostly just an empty lot filled with cigarette butts and dead hookers anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Subway\_Prophet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@Subway\_Prophet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subway_Prophet)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/51 "2008-09-07T16:08:03Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > How long do butts linger? I see one that’s been around here since June 2001. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/52 "2008-09-07T17:13:30Z")
I’m really appalled at the behaviour described in this thread - and not only dumb people seen misbehaving on the street, but a doper (who should know better, esp. after hard facts about the danger of cigarette butts! full of nicotine was posted) who openly admits that he doesn’t want to change. When I was raised in the 80s, not only did my mother teach me that “I didn’t drop the trash, why should I pick it up” (and the related “I didn’t see it, so I didn’t have to pick it up”) were _not_ valid excuses. We were also taught to put all paper into paper containers, all non-refundable glass into the different colour glass containers (we went regularly to the containers), to avoid garbage if possible, recycle otherwise, and not let our city go to the dogs. Nowadays, we have little bags in the parks so dog owners can pick up the dog’s droppings afterwards (and there’s a fine if people don’t do it). This is not only more pleasant because you don’t step into the poop, it’s also safer since dog poop can spread diseases to children playing in the park. Oh, and the asshole who throws cigarette butts away because the city is already dirty: it’s dirty because of idiots like you. If you want a nice city, start doing your part instead of waiting for others. Do you know that little children (and animals, of course) can die from ingesting as little as two cigarette butts (because of the pure nicotine in the filter)? If you do - since you said you didn’t do it in Utah because of the animals - why do continue where other animals might pick the butts up? Or, as the post said, if the wind/rain carries the butts away before a sweeper has had a chance to properly dispose them, wildlife somewhere else is endangered? As for Slovakia and Serbia - in case you haven’t noticed, they are rather recent additions to Western Europe and the EU. They have a lot of catching up to with things we learnt 20 years ago (and invest the necessary money in cleaning up their cities, too, of course). ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/53 "2008-09-07T17:23:56Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > Do you know that little children (and animals, of course) can die from ingesting as little as two cigarette butts (because of the pure nicotine in the filter)? Cite? ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/54 "2008-09-07T17:37:36Z")
> [@Hyperelastic](#): > > So I was just driving home from the grocery store, and approaching me in the other direction comes this inconsiderate turdbag bitch who is simultaneously driving and going through her junk mail, and _throwing the rejects out her truck window onto the road._ We’re not talking postcards - she threw out what appeared to be a catalog and then one of those local coupon circulars, which immediately disintegrated into dozens of loose pages. If it’s any consolation, throwing things with your name and address on them on the ground is a great way to get busted for littering. It happened to a friend of mine when a small bag of his trash was found along the side of a highway. ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/55 "2008-09-07T17:38:11Z")
> [@fisha](#): > > Cite? Ok, did a little research, and the consensus is that it is possible to poison and/or kill a child from nicotine. Absolutely no cases I could find of actual poisoning or death, other than “many children go to the emergency room every year for ingesting cigarette butts” repeatedly quoted verbatim on anti smoking sites. Perhaps my google-fu is lacking today. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/56 "2008-09-07T18:16:24Z")
> [@neutron\_star](#): > > If it’s any consolation, throwing things with your name and address on them on the ground is a great way to get busted for littering. It happened to a friend of mine when a small bag of his trash was found along the side of a highway. Was he later drafted? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/57 "2008-09-07T19:12:13Z")
One of the delivery people drop a cigarette butt at the mail box and flier box 5 or 6 days a week. During the summer flood the hundreds of butts floated away. As soon as they could drive to the boxes and deliver again, the butts started accumulating. The neighbors paper trash is constantly blowing into the yard or somebody is tossing food bags out the vehicle window. We usually can’t have a clean yard for even half a day. Normally within an hour or two of removing all the trash, new stuff shows up. We often get people turning around in our yard, and peeling out on the gravel. Last week while I was outside a couple hours there were 5 turn arounds. I’d like to put up some spikes for tires. Remove them when we go away, and put them back when we get home. constanze is correct. The nicotine in butts is very poisonous. I however am not going to dig for an online source on this as I already have read that and am satisfied. ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/58 "2008-09-07T20:26:53Z")
> [@fisha](#): > > Ok, did a little research, and the consensus is that it is possible to poison and/or kill a child from nicotine. > > Absolutely no cases I could find of actual poisoning or death, other than “many children go to the emergency room every year for ingesting cigarette butts” repeatedly quoted verbatim on anti smoking sites. Perhaps my google-fu is lacking today. Here you go: [Ingestion of Cigarettes and Cigarette Butts by Children -- Rhode Island, January 1994-July 1996](http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00046181.htm) 30 cases serious enough to send kids to the hospital…no deaths, luckily. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/59 "2008-09-07T20:44:37Z")
> [@5-HT](#): > > So shoot me, I’m a sinner I guess. No, just a lazy, slovenly asshole. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401/60 "2008-09-07T20:50:53Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > No, just a lazy, slovenly asshole. Well, sloth _is_ one of the seven deadly sins. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-world-is-not-your-trash-can/462401.md?page=4)