Premise: we are not here to make the moral to anyone. This article was created with the aim of illustrating the impact of smoking on the environment, and to give some simple advice for those who want to pollute a little less.
How many times in your life have you been told phrases like "Smoking is bad!" "You really should quit smoking" and stuff? Well, these phrases will definitely not make you quit smoking, much less this article.
Net of moralisms (everyone is free to do what they want), our intent is to make smokers more aware about your own environmental impact.
The smoke emanating from the cigarette contains a lot chemical substances which, in addition to being harmful for you, they are also for the environment: nicotine, heavy metals, hydrogen cyanide, residues of pesticides used to grow tobacco. Smoking also increases the concentration of particulate matter in the air, not to mention the fact that every year about 6 billion cigarettes are produced, which are responsible for 0.2% of emissions global of CO2 (the equivalent that Switzerland produces).
In short, a cigarette can pollute ten times more than a diesel car.
Each cigarette, after ending its existence, turns into a I decline almost impossible to dispose of. In fact, 90% of the cigarette filters is produced with a plastic material, cellulose acetate, which if dispersed into the environment can use more than a decade to decompose. The real problem lies in the unhealthy habit of abandoning cigarette butts wherever we are: on the street, on the beach, on the river bank.
To give you some numbers: in Italy they come on average abandoned over 195 million cigarette butts every day, the equivalent of weight of 13 elephants. In the sea well the 40% of the waste it is made up butts of cigarette, the quadruple compared to waste composed of bottles of plastic.
Once we have outlined the problem, it is time to talk about solutions: how we can render more sustainable this habit?
- Stop smoking.
END
Yes, we had to say that. Smoking is neither good for you nor for nature, so the best solution would be to quit.
Now let's see together some solutions for those who can't quit but want to be more sustainable:
- Switch to tobacco.
Stop buying pre-made and packaged cigarettes, start buying packets of tobacco (natural, so it will contain less harmful chemicals) and biodegradable papers and filters. In this way, the problem of pollution caused by abandoned cigarette butts will be curbed, as well as avoiding the production of waste due to the packaging of the packages.
You will be able to prepare your cigarettes in time and store them in ours Bamboo cigarette case
- Don't abandon the butts.
Nowadays, in any tobacconist's shop they sell very comfortable containers for butts. When you finish your smoke put the butt in there and empty it once you get home. The planet will be grateful.
- Put off your cigarette.
When you feel like smoking, put off your cigarette "a little". This will allow you to smoke a few less cigarettes during your day, and thus you will have polluted a little less!
PS. Of course, if you don't smoke, we advise against starting.
