Half of the UK’s regular smokers believe it is acceptable to discard cigarette butts down a drain, despite expert warnings about the risk they pose to marine wildlife, according to a Press Association report published by the Daily Mail and citing the results of a survey.
The survey, carried out for the environment charity Keep Britain Tidy, found that 52 percent of daily smokers polled said they did not see a problem with getting rid of their cigarette butts in this way.
Meanwhile, only 53 percent of those surveyed said they realised the butts would end up in the sea when dropped down the drain.
Thirty-nine percent of those polled said they had discarded a butt in this way during the past month, despite 77 percent of them saying they were concerned that toxins from their cigarettes could harm marine life.
The survey of 4,146 people – including 502 smokers – was carried out by YouGov to mark the launch of Keep Britain Tidy’s Flicking Blue Murder campaign, raising awareness of the link between cigarettes and the marine environment.
“Following Sir David Attenborough’s rallying cry to reduce plastic waste on Blue Planet II, we wanted to show how simple everyday behaviour can affect the environment,” said Keep Britain Tidy chief executive Allison Ogden-Newton.
Going down the drain
