What are butts made of?
• Cigarette butts are made from cellulose acetate, a form of plastic. They are not made from cotton wool or paper! • Butts are designed to capture vapors from a cigarette, reducing the amount of smoke being inhaled. The captured smoke contains more than 4000 chemicals, including 43 known carcinogens, such as ammonia, nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide and arsenic • As the acetate filter in a cigarette butt starts to decompose, it releases these toxic chemicals into our natural environment.