I knew that I had to research this because I am getting extremely annoyed that almost all my friends in my home town are smokers and I am an innocent healthy person who has to breathe in unpleasant air every time I am with friends at my home town, which often makes me feel uncomfortable.

Cigarettes have huge environmental consequences. Smoking contributes to air pollution and threatens forests, homes and parks. Cigarette butts that were thrown out has been linked to large wildfires, which results in larger problems such as the destruction of wildlife, vegetation and property. Each year, cigarettes make up 1.69 billion pounds of waste.

Each year, the state of California spends $41 million on waste cleanup and out of all the waste, 34% of them are cigarette butts. They are the top item found on beaches and roadside, as well as parks. Not only that they are not biodegradable, lead, arsenic and nicotine are toxic chemicals that damages the environment.

Source: http://www.tobaccofreeca.com/smoking-problem/impact/environment/