Are cigarette butts organic or synthetic?

Question

arent they made of cotton? how long does it take for a cigarette butt take to rot? I know cigarette smoking is not socialbly exceptable and soon will be outlawed in manty state but what are the affects on the invironment?

Answer 1

Synthetic, it can take up to 7 years for the butts to decade. Very few buts are made from cotton now if any still are.

Answer 2

The raw material for the manufacture of cigarette filters is cellulose (obtained from wood). The cellulose is acetylated, dissolved, and spun as continuous synthetic fibers arranged into a bundle called tow. The cellulose is a substituted diacetate (actually 1.5 to 2.0 substitution range) cellulose, due to its chemical and physical processing. This tow is opened, plasticized, shaped, and cut to length to act as a filter.

In the early 1950's Kent brand cigarettes used crocidolite asbestos as part of the (Micronite) filter. Asbestos fiber is heatproof, insoluble and forms extremely fine fibers--but has been proven to cause lung cancer when inhaled.

The initial use of filters in cigarettes was a move on the part of the manufacturers to reduce the production costs and increase profits. The US dept. of agricultures price support for the various grades of tobacco favored the use of #4 and 5 grade, included what were known as sand lugs and floor sweepings at 10 cents/lb versus #1 grade at close to 70 cents. Back In the forties it was actually less expensive to manufacture a filtered cigarette than a regular one. The filter masked the harsh cheap tobacco. It was simple enough to test this known fact. A filtered cigarette such as Viceroy or Parliament with the filter removed were practically unsmokable. The decline in sales in the U.S. of top grade tobaccos as a result of this shift left the US gov. having to buy and store tremendous quantities of top grades, which were sold at a loss (to the US taxpayer) to European manufacturers.