Want create site? Find Free WordPress Themes and plugins.

Did you know that cigarette butts account for roughly 35% to 40% of the litter produced on Earth? Each year, the global human population produces about 4.5 trillion cigarette butts in waste (~34 billion pounds). That’s more than 3,000 butts a year per smoker (or roughly 8 a day). Those butts take an average of 26 years to decompose.

Cigarettes aren’t just bad news for the human body; they’re bad news for the whole planet.

Electronic cigarettes and vaper products really change that equation. A vaper that has completely replaced his or her smoking habit trades in the cigarette waste (sometimes as much as 21,000 butts if they smoke 3 packs a day) a year for a few batteries and some electronics. Many e-cig companies are even instituting recycling programs to keep the batteries and electronics out of landfills. If the (believed to be) roughly 5 million vapers in the U.S. have replaced their smoking habit (as most appear to have done), e-cigs could already be resulting in about 15 billion less cigarette butts of waste a year.

There is no other habit or activity that produces so much waste for so little active use as smoking. Five to ten minutes of smoking produces one butt. Single package treats from a convenience store are about the only comparable thing, but you’d be hard pressed to find someone that needs to consume 40 Moon Pies a day and purchases all of them individually wrapped. And don’t forget, cigarette lighters, cartons, and packs all produce additional waste.

Even on the other end of the spectrum — production of cigarettes — you have trouble. Some 600 million trees are cut down each year for use in tobacco products — 10 to 20% of all trees harvested. That’s enough to produce roughly 50 quadrillion sheets of paper and certainly enough to continuing making a dent in the planet’s ability to keep itself clean and healthy.

Again, the electronic cigarette industry is a step ahead of tobacco cigarettes. “Vapor products can immediately and positively impact the environment via a reduction of cigarette butts on streets and in oceans,” says Cynthia Cabrera, director of the Smoke Free Alternatives Trade Association. “They embody mindfulness because, by nature, they force a user to reuse.” And she’s right. Tobacco cigarettes are a fire and forget product, which only makes worse the ease with which their byproducts are tossed. The refilling and recharging aspects of electronic cigarettes keep their users mindful.

Surprisingly, many scientists believe that the act of smoking (despite so many smokers and so much smoking) has no real effect on the planet from a climate change and atmospheric balance perspective. But the collective impact of the waste, the pollution created during the processes necessary to produce cigarettes, and the chemicals released into the ground over the 26 years it takes filters to decompose all have long-term detrimental effects.

Industrial production of electronic cigarettes and the e-liquids that go into them is rapidly appearing to be far less harmful. “Conscious, low impact, low carbon footprint manufacturing is one of the huge benefits of e-cigs,” says M. Daniel Walsh, from Purebacco USA (a major U.S.-based e-liquid manufacturer). “E-liquid manufacturing, when done consciously, is pretty straightforward to make environmentally friendly.” Many e-cig companies have even taken to producing recyclable and biodegradable packaging.

The world needs every bit of help it can get. Earth Day is always a good time to reflect on what you should be doing, but it’s also a good time to think about how far we’ve come. Every vaper out there (even those that continue to smoke) has likely cut down tremendously on the amount of waste they produce and harm they do to the planet.

For that, we thank you. Happy Earth Day.