SEOUL, Nov. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — Cigarette butts have turned out to rank among the most common items of marine litter, according to the Korea Federation for Environmental Movement of Jeju, a non-profit environmental group based on Jeju Island last week.
According to the association, which has staged a coastal cleanup campaign since May 29 of this year (six times in total), cigarette butts are the most common form of marine debris.
Hundreds of volunteers have taken part in the campaign this far and collected about 500 kilograms of trash (a total of 6947 trash items).
Topping the list of litter items found at Jeju beaches, cigarette butts accounted for 22.9 percent of the total, followed by plastic debris (22.5 percent) and other disposable trash including straws, tableware, and beverage bottles.
Cigarette butts are very harmful to the marine ecosystem, since most cigarette filters are made out of cellulose acetate, a plastic-like material that does not decompose easily, with a single filter containing thousands of tiny microplastic particles.
Image Credit: Yonhap / Korea Federation for Environmental Movement of Jeju / photonews@koreabizwire.com
