1.4 Million Pounds of Cigarette Trash a Day

Being environmentally friendly, or, as many call it, green, is a great thing. Well, it’s a great thing when you actually want to aid in keeping Mother Nature alive. The topic has become more of a fad in these past few years rather than becoming a gradual migration of culture. I have to admit, it is great seeing this craze to help out the earth, but don’t all fads end at some point? What happens when the fad dies down and we return to our normal selves?

Let’s take a close look at something that generally doesn’t take center stage with being green: Smoking. I’d like to complete a brief calculation if you wouldn’t mind. I’ve read that there are about 650 million daily smokers in the world. Let’s make an assumption that each one of the 650 million smokers only smokes 1 cigarette a day. I have no clue how much a cigarette weighs, so lets just say 1 gram. Let me take you through the calculation: 1 cigarette times 650 million smokers times 1 gram equals 650 million grams. Multiply 650 million grams times 0.0352739619 ounces per gram and then divide by 16 ounces to get the answer in pounds.

The answer is around 1,433,000 pounds of cigarettes disposed of per day. You’d like to know how many pounds a year? More than 523 million pounds a year!

Remember, these answers are simply estimations. If a cigarette weighs more than a gram, the answer goes up. If a cigarette weighs less than a gram, the answer goes down. If more than the estimated 650 million smokers smoke more than 1 cigarette a day, the answer goes up. And so on. You get the point.

This isn’t counting all of the smokers who smoke packs or cartons a day. The number is also not including the packaging of the cigarettes. I would have to say that I think my calculation is somewhat conservative.

One of my friends was talking to me about the issue with smokers who so callously throw their cigarettes out of their car window or onto the ground when they are finished smoking. One of the examples I could give to my friend was a man who had 4 cigarettes (which are now lying in the middle of the street somewhere) during his 15 minute morning commute. Another example was my friend’s coworker who was working out in a wooded area. The area was very dry due to a drought. She finished her cigarette and threw it on the ground in a bunch of dry grass. I guess she didn’t take her brain with her to work that day.

But I shouldn’t only pick on smokers. Let’s pick on the people who seem to forget about their green stance in life: those who are “green” to a point.

The only reason I bring this topic up is because of a Toyota Prius owner that sped past me on the highway going far faster than the speed limit. I cannot comprehend why such a person would drive past the speed limit in the Prius; after all, if it was an emergency, the person should have called 911 for their services. The Prius is known for getting absolutely fantastic mpg efficiency. However, when one drives the car in excess of 55 miles per hour, gas consumption increases dramatically in turn decreasing the mpg rating. The Prius owner who decided to buy a car for better efficiency is doing the exact opposite by speeding. The owner probably bought the car and either does not understand cars and gas consumption or returned to his normal driving habits after owning the car for a while. I’m guessing the latter, not the former. What a shame.

I could list groups of people one after another who waste energy, litter, or steal from good old Mother Nature. Fortunately for you I am ending my post. If this post made no sense or you found something wrong with my cigarette numbers or you would simply like to talk, feel free to comment.

I guess the moral of the post is that we should stop smoking and compare our everyday habits to green living. Good luck!