Trashy Trivia: A Cigarette Chain all the way to Baton Rouge

A chain of littered cigarettes laid end-to-end stretches a long way. To see just how far it reaches in our area first we’ve got to figure out how many cigarette packs were sold.

How Many Were Sold?
If we look at the Louisiana Department of Revenue Tax Collection Report (pages 66-67) from 2006-2007 we see the state collected $133,752,096 in cigarette stamp tax sales based on $0.36 per pack of 20.
That’s 371,533,600 packs sold in 2007. 

How Many Become Litter?
While a conservative estimate of cigarette butts littered is 2 butts per pack, 35% of smokers surveyed tossed 5 or more per pack on the ground!
35% of 5 is 1.75 which rounds up to 2 butts per pack for every single pack!
If we stick with our conservative estimate of only 2 cigarettes per pack tossed, that comes out to 743,067,200 butts tossed annually in Louisiana.
That’s not all, the same source quotes a study that found smokers only placed 10% of their cigarette butts in an ash container.
To read more on these surveys click here.

How Far Will They Go?
So what does all that litter look like?
If you consider most cigarette butts or filters are about an inch long, a mile of butts lined up end-to-end equals 63,360 butts.
In one year that’s 11,727.7 miles or 90 trips to Baton Rouge.
To make only one trip you would need to make your cigarette chain 2 and ½ feet wide. (3 butts per inch laid side-to-side)

How Long Will They Last?
Cigarette filters last 3 to 10 years because they don’t biodegrade.