ashtray.fyi

An independent public-awareness project

Tobacco and
Nicotine Waste

The seen and unseen pollution

A cowboy-hat-shaped ashtray holding several spent cigarette and cigar butts, photographed from above.

Cigarette butts, nicotine pouches, plastics, and disposable vapes leave more than litter behind.

The world is not an ashtray

#DontMessWithTexas  #TheWorldIsNotYourAshtray

See the numbers

What counts as waste

Seen and unseen

Some waste is easy to see

  • Cigarette butts
  • Empty packs and wrappers
  • Used nicotine pouches
  • Discarded disposable vapes

Some waste is harder to see

  • Microplastics from cigarette filters
  • Nicotine and toxic residue in soil and water
  • Heavy metals
  • Lithium battery waste and circuit-board e-waste

Tobacco and nicotine waste is not just a cleanliness issue. It is also a plastic pollution, toxic waste, and electronic waste issue.

The data

The numbers behind the litter

Cigarette butts are the biggest visible problem

4.5 trillion butts. One year. One global waste stream.
Share of global litter that is tobacco-related

25%–40% of items collected, across multi-decade international cleanup data. About 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are improperly discarded every year worldwide — roughly 1.69 billion pounds of toxic trash. In one recent year of the International Coastal Cleanup, volunteers removed more than 1.2 million cigarette butts from beaches and waterways.

Sources
  1. WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Secretariat, "4.5 Trillion Cigarette Butts Are Equal to 1.69 Billion Pounds of Toxic Trash"
  2. Truth Initiative, "Why Are Cigarette Butts the Most Littered Item on Earth?"
  3. Ocean Conservancy, International Coastal Cleanup reporting

The plastic problem most people miss

A cigarette filter is plastic waste with toxic residue attached.
15,000+
Plastic fibers in a single cigarette filter

Most cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate — a plastic. More than 90% of cigarettes sold worldwide are sold with one, and it does not disappear quickly. Discarded butts can also leach nicotine, lead, cadmium, and other toxic chemicals into soil and water.

Sources
  1. Belzagui et al., "Cigarette Butts as a Microfiber Source with a Microplastic Level of Concern", Science of the Total Environment
  2. Wooliscroft, "Time to Kick the Butt of the Most Common Litter Item in the World", Science of the Total Environment

Smokeless products and vapes add a newer waste stream

Disposable vapes are not just litter. They are e-waste.
2024 urban litter survey
Cigarette butts49%
Pouches / snus21%

Used nicotine pouches and snus made up 21% of all litter collected — second only to cigarette butts at 49%. Of the pouch litter collected, 65% was tobacco-free nicotine pouches.

Sources
  1. Keep Sweden Tidy (Håll Sverige Rent), 2024 urban litter survey, via Nordic Welfare Centre

Disposable vapes are e-waste

Disposable vape disposal, self-reported
Regular trash52.9%
Any recycling13%

Disposable vapes add plastic, metal, circuit boards, nicotine liquid, and lithium batteries to the waste stream. In the United States, an estimated 150 million disposable vapes are thrown away each year — about five every second.

Sources
  1. Truth Initiative, survey of disposable e-cigarette users published in Addiction (2024)
  2. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 2022 disposable vape estimate

What you can do

Take action

01

Do not litter — even the small stuff.

02

Use proper receptacles for butts, pouches, and packaging.

03

Keep nicotine products away from waterways.

04

Treat disposable vapes like battery / e-waste, whenever local collection is available.

Spread it further

Get the pamphlet

This site started as a companion to a printed tri-fold — the same data, sources, and artwork, made to hand out in person. Print your own copies and pass them along. Every pamphlet points back here.

Download the pamphlet (PDF) Descargar el folleto en español (PDF) Read the data online

Scan to return to

ashtray.fyi

Now available

Merch

One shirt, made to order

A tan unisex tee, one design. Printed and shipped per order by Printful — no inventory, nothing to restock. Checkout happens on Printful's page.

Buy the shirt

This button isn't wired up yet — it goes live the moment the Printful product link is pasted in. See launch-procedure.md.