Cigarette litter, such as cigarette ash, cigarette butts, and cigarette butt leachates, can contain organic pollutants similar to those in cigarette smoke, but studies on these waste types are still relatively limited. This review article compiles information from studies published over the past four decades on organic pollutants in cigarette ash, cigarette butts, and leachates from cigarette butts, to provide insights into quantitatively analytical methods and the presence of these toxicants in cigarette litter. The main organic pollutants found in cigarette litter include: volatile organic compounds (VOCs), semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), nicotine, and aromatic amines. Gas chromatography or liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry detection have been the most frequently used methods to characterize organic pollutants in cigarette litter. Toxic substances in improperly disposed cigarette waste can pollute the environment through evaporation into the air or leakage through leachates into the water environment, seepage into soil, accumulate in sediment, and cause negative effects on organisms. Further studies on analytical method development, pollution monitoring, and risk assessment related to organic pollutants in cigarette waste are needed.
Cigarette butt, cigarette ash, leachate, organic pollutant
[1]. World Health Organization, “Tobacco and its environmental impact: an overview,” ISBN 978-92-4-151249-7, 2017.
[2]. A. Zemann, “Smoke Chemistry,” In Cigarette Smoke Toxicity: Linking Individual Chemicals to Human Diseases, D. Bernhard (Ed.), Wiley-VCH, pp. 55-66, 2011.
[3]. M. W. Beutel, T. C. Harmon, T. E. Novotny, J. Mock, M. E. Gilmore, S. C. Hart, S. Traina, S. Duttagupta, A. Brooks, C. L. Jerde, E. Hoh, L. C. V. D. Werfhorst, V. Butsic, A. C. Wartenberg, and P. A. Holden, “A review of environmental pollution from the use and disposal of cigarettes and electronic cigarettes: contaminants, sources, and impacts,” Sustainability, vol. 13, pp. 12994, 2021.
[4]. F. Soleimani, S. Dobaradaran, G. E. De-la-Torre, T. C. Schmidt, and R. Saeedi, “Content of toxic components of cigarette, cigarette smoke vs cigarette butts: a comprehensive systematic review,” Science of The Total Environment, vol. 813, pp. 152667, 2022.
[5]. G. Shah, U. Bhatt, and V. Soni, “Cigarette: an unsung anthropogenic evil in the environment,” Environmental Science and Pollution Research, vol. 30, pp. 59151-59162, 2023.
[6]. D. S. Green, A. D. W. Tongue, and B. Boots, “The ecological impacts of discarded cigarette butts,” PlumX Metrics, vol. 37, pp. 183-192, 2022.
[7]. K. R. Vanapalli, H. B. Sharma, S. Anand, V. P. Ranjan, H. Singh, B. K. Dubey, and B. Mohanty, “Cigarettes butt littering: the story of the world’s most littered item from the perspective of pollution, remedial actions, and policy measures,” Journal of Hazardous Materials, vol. 453, pp. 131387, 2023.
[8]. S. A. Arat, “A review on cigarette butts: environmental abundance, characterization, and toxic pollutants released into water from cigarette butts,” Science of The Total Environment, vol. 928, pp. 172327, 2024.
[9]. J. Torkashvand, and M. Farzadkia, “A systematic review on cigarette butt management as a hazardous waste and prevalent litter: control and recycling,” Environmental Science and Pollution Research, vol. 26, pp. 11618-11630, 2019.
[10]. I. Moroz, L. G. B. Scapolio, I. Cesarino, A. L. Leão, and G. Bonanomi, “Toxicity of cigarette butts and possible recycling solutions - a literature review,” Environmental Science and Pollution Research, vol. 28, pp. 10450-10473, 2021.
[11]. A. Zemann, “Components of a Cigarette”, In cigarette smoke toxicity: linking individual chemicals to human diseases, D. Bernhard (Ed.), Wiley-VCH, pp. 19-35, 2011.
[12]. C.N. Jenkins, P. X. Dai, D. H. Ngoc, H. V. Kinh, T. T. Hoang, S. Bales, S. Stewart, and S. J. McPhee, “Tobacco use in Vietnam. Prevalence, predictors, and the role of the transnational tobacco corporations,” The Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 277, pp. 1726-1731, 1997.
[13]. T. C. Son, L. T. H. Trang, D. T. T. Hang, K. T. L. Phuong, N. N. Son, and P. T. Liem, “Analysis and evaluation of tar and nicotine content in some cigarette products of Vietnam in 2023,” VNU Journal of Science: Natural Sciences and Technology, vol. 40, pp. 37-46, 2024.
[14]. Z. Wang, S. Wang, J. Nie, Y. Wang, and Y. Liu, “Assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in indoor dust from varying categories of rooms in Changchun City, northeast China,” Environmental Geochemistry and Health, vol. 39, pp. 15-27, 2017.
[15]. A. Q. Hoang, T. H. Le, M. B. Tu, and S. Takahashi, “Characterization of unsubstituted and methylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and screening of potential organic compounds in solid waste and environmental samples by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry,” Journal of Environmental Chemistry, vol. 30, pp. 82-93, 2020.
[16]. X. Yan, L. Zhang, B. A. Hearn, L. Valentín-Blasini, G. M. Polzin, and C. H. Watson, “A high throughput method for estimating mouth-level intake of mainstream cigarette smoke,” Nicotine & Tobacco Research, vol. 17, pp. 1324-1330, 2015.
[17]. K. Fukuhara, T. Sakaki, H. Sakuma, and S. Sugawara, “Odor analysis of cigarette butts by a headspace technique,” Agricultural and Biological Chemistry, vol. 49, pp. 2177-2179, 1985.
[18]. S. Ishiguro and S. Sugawara, “Comparison of smoke components in the semivolatile phase from lamina and midrib cigarettes of flue-cured tobacco leaves,” Agricultural and Biological Chemistry, vol. 42, pp. 1527-1531, 1978.
[19]. H. Moriwaki, S. Kitajima, and K. Katahira, “Waste on the roadside, ‘poi-sute’ waste: Its distribution and elution potential of pollutants into environment,” Waste Management, vol. 29, pp. 1192-1197, 2009.
[20]. S. Dobaradaran, T. C. Schmidt, N. Lorenzo-Parodi, M. A. Jochmann, I. Nabipour, A. Raeisi, N. Stojanović, and M. Mahmoodi, “Cigarette butts: an overlooked source of PAHs in the environment?,” Environmental Pollution, vol. 249, pp. 932-939, 2019.
[21]. S. Dobaradaran, X. A. M. Mutke, T. C. Schmidt, P. Swiderski, G. E. De-la-Torre, and M. A. Jochmann, “Aromatic amines contents of cigarette butts: fresh and aged cigarette butts vs unsmoked cigarette,” Chemosphere, vol. 301, pp. 134735, 2022.
[22]. W. H. Richardot, L. Yabes, H. H. Wei, N. G. Dodder, K. Watanabe, A. Cibor, S. F. Schick, T. E. Novotny, R. Gersberg, and E. Hoh, “Leached compounds from smoked cigarettes and their potential for bioaccumulation in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss),” Chemical Research in Toxicology, vol. 36, pp. 1703-1710, 2023.
[23]. A. L. R. Green, A. Putschew, and T. Nehls, “Littered cigarette butts as a source of nicotine in urban waters,” Journal of Hydrology, vol. 519, pp. 3466-3474, 2017.
[24]. S. Dobaradaran, U. Telgheder, G. E. De-la-Torre, S. P. Rockel, X. A. M. Mutke, and T. C. Schmidt, “Elucidating nicotine transfer into water environments via cigarette butt remaining parts,” Environmental Pollution, vol. 341, pp. 112943, 2024.
[25]. S. Dobaradaran, T. C. Schmidt, X. A. M. Mutke, G. E. De-la-Torre, U. Telgheder, K. Kerpen, and M. Plonowski, “Aromatic amines leachate from cigarette butts into aquatic environments: Is there risk for water organisms?,” Environmental Research, vol. 216, pp. 114717, 2023.
[26]. S. Dobaradaran, T. C. Schmidt, W. Kaziur-Cegla, and M. A. Jochmann, “BTEX compounds leachates from cigarette butts into water environment: A primary study,” Environmental Pollution, vol. 269, pp. 116185, 2021.
[27]. S. Dobaradaran, T. C. Schmidt, N. Lorenzo-Parodi, W. Kaziur-Cegla, M. A. Jochmann, I. Nabipour, H. V. Lutze, and U. Telgheder, “Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) leachates from cigarette butts into water,” Environmental Pollution, vol. 259, pp. 113916, 2020.