Tobacco Companies: Keep Your Butts Out of Our Bay!
Cigarettes are not just a human health concern. Cigarette butts are toxic, plastic litter that flows from our streets into the Bay, polluting water and threatening wildlife. An estimated 3 billion cigarettes are littered in the Bay Area each year, posing a serious threat that we cannot ignore.
Cigarette litter is costing cities a fortune. In 2009, the City of San Francisco reported that it spent close to $6 million per year to clean up cigarette butts from the city’s streets and storm drains. Of course, smokers should throw their cigarette butts in the trash. But why should the public bear the burden of the toxic problem caused by non-biodegradable cigarette litter?
The three biggest tobacco companies - Phillip Morris, Reynolds American, and Lorillard - must play an active role in addressing the plague of plastic debris they are unleashing on our streets, creeks, and Bay and work to ensure their polluting product is properly disposed of. Other industries such as computer, pharmaceutical, and paint companies have been held responsible - it's past time for the tobacco industry to do the same.
Sign the petition to tell tobacco companies - Keep your butts out of our Bay!
Cigarette butts are a toxic litter problem in San Francisco Bay. An estimated 3 billion cigarettes are littered regionally every year, many of which end up in our creeks and the Bay. Plastic cigarette litter costs cities millions of dollars to clean up - a terrible waste of public resources. Other industries have taken responsibility for the safe disposal of their products – we demand that the tobacco industry do the same.
[Your comments will go here]
I call on the tobacco industry to take responsibility for the toxic litter they produce and prevent cigarette butts from choking our waterways and harming Bay wildlife.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
