With the rise of environmentalism, more and more countries have begun to pay attention to the seriousness of the environmental plastic pollution problem, and have successively launched various plastic restriction policies to control the sources of marine pollution. First, they targeted plastic bags, then tableware, and recently straws. But in fact, the ocean The number one man-made pollutant in the U.S. is the small but ubiquitous cigarette holder. Discarded cigarette filters, which often contain synthetic fibers and hundreds of chemicals, are not regulated. According to NBC, the vast majority of the 5.6 trillion cigarettes produced worldwide each year are filters made of cellulose acetate, a plastic that may take 10 years or more to decompose, and surveys Up to two-thirds of cigarette filters were found to be irresponsibly discarded every year. The Ocean Conservancy, which has sponsored annual beach cleanups since 1986, found that cigarette holders are the largest piece of trash collected on beaches around the world, with more than 60 million collected over 32 years, or one-third of all trash collected. Many cigarette filters contain harsh chemicals such as nicotine, arsenic and heavy metals that can be acutely toxic to aquatic life. Tobacco companies are not unaware of the problem of cigarette holder pollution. For example, the Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company in the United States has launched a cigarette holder recycling program, organized a series of environmental protection activities, and will also launch portable ashtray products. This year, it has Distributed 4 million small recycling bags. But most activities are ineffective because most smokers are used to throwing cigarette butts everywhere. In order to remove cigarette butts from the ground, some organizations have even come up with unrealistic solutions. For example, a French amusement park recently trained dozens of crows to collect cigarette butts. Cigarettes and other small trash on the floor. The World Health Organization (WHO) report points out that the tobacco industry created cigarette filters in the 1950s, claiming to make smoking a healthier alternative, but subsequent studies found that this claim was fraudulent and that tobacco waste also contained large amounts of of toxic chemicals, including known human carcinogens, that leach and accumulate in the environment. Now, as more people begin to understand the toll cigarette filters take on the environment and health, calls to ban cigarette filters are growing, forcing the tobacco industry to look for more practical solutions, including switching to paper or other materials such as cotton. To replace the original filter materials, but smokers complain that these materials change the taste of tobacco, tobacco companies are now looking for biodegradable filter materials. For example, Greenbutts, a San Diego startup, has developed a filter made from organic materials such as abaca, Tencel, wood pulp, and natural starch that breaks down quickly in soil or water. The company said its products are ready to go on the market, and if mass-produced, reasonable prices can be set, but before that, the government still needs legislative push so that the problem can be effectively and quickly solved. Source: TechNews (2018/09/06)
