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Cigarette Butts Become Greatest Plastic Concern On Beaches

Semevent/Pixabay

There's a great deal of concern on the planet about plastic in the ocean.  But it's not bags or wrappers that are the greatest concerns, at least on the beach. 

It's cigarette butts.  Even though the percentage of the population consuming cigarettes had dropped in the United States, beach cleanup operations in recent years keep finding that cigarette filters make up a lot of the trash load.  And they are dropped and pitched in many other places as well.

The Cigarette Butt Pollution Project tracks the issue and proposes remedies.  Dr. Tom Novotny is CEO of the group and our guest.

 

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Geoffrey Riley is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and has hosted the Jefferson Exchange on JPR since 2009. He's been a broadcaster in the Rogue Valley for more than 35 years, working in both television and radio.