What is the most commonly littered item in the world?

Chances are you're not alone; cigarette butts are far and away the most littered item in the world, with roughly 4.5 trillion being tossed each year.

What is the most common littered item?

Environmental consequences of tobacco

Roughly 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are littered every year, making them the most littered item on the planet, according to WHO.

What is the most littered item in the UK?

Cigarette butts are the most common littered item in the UK, and one of the most littered items of single-use plastic globally.

What is the most polluted item in the world?

1. Cigarettes. The number one item found during the clean-up was cigarettes and cigarette filters. During the International Coastal Ocean Cleanup in 2022, over 1,860,615 cigarette butts were collected.

Where is littering most common in the world?

Places Known For A Large Amount Of Litter. Littering takes place in most places across the globe, however, a few areas have been known to see a larger amount than other locations. A few locations with the most litter include North America such as Mexico, South East Asia and India.

What's the World's Most Littered Plastic Item? Cigarette Butts | National Geographic

Who litters the most?

Most roadway litter came from motorists (52%), pedestrians (22.8%), and improperly covered vehicles (16%). Most non-roadway litter was found at transition points such as entrances to businesses and bus stops. The researchers estimated that litter costs the United States more than $11 billion to clean up annually.

What is the cleanest country in the world?

Estonia, a small European country located near the Baltic Sea, is ranked as the cleanest country in the world. It scored 75.7 in the EPI 2024 report. It ranks highest due to its greenery, freshwater sources, clean air and water. The second country on the list is Luxembourg; it scores 75.1 in the EPI 2024 report.

What is the #1 polluter in the world?

Fuel & Energy is the top polluter, contributing to around 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions, mainly through fossil fuels like coal, gas, and oil.

What is the most thrown away plastic item?

Who invented plastic?

In 1907 Leo Baekeland invented Bakelite, the first fully synthetic plastic, meaning it contained no molecules found in nature. Baekeland had been searching for a synthetic substitute for shellac, a natural electrical insulator, to meet the needs of the rapidly electrifying United States.

What is the number one litter in the world?

Unfortunately, tobacco waste is the most common type of litter in the world, and it can affect the likelihood of fires in your area. Dropped cigarette butts have been the cause of many home and apartment fires, as well as some of the largest and most destructive forest fires.

What is the most thrown away food in the UK?

Bread: Bread is one of the most commonly wasted food items in the UK. It is estimated that approximately 900,000 tonnes of bread are wasted each year, both at the production and consumer levels.

Is dropping a cigarette littering?

Litter can be anything that is dropped, thrown or otherwise deposited and left in areas where the law applies. This includes anything you would normally consider as rubbish such as cigarette butts, drink cans and food containers.

What is the biggest source of litter?

Cigarette Butts. Cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate, a form of plastic that can take over a decade to decompose. They're the number one most-littered item in the world and often end up in waterways, leaching chemicals and harming marine life.

What 6 objects is most of the world's plastic litter made of?

14% Single-use bottles; 12% Food wrappers; 9% Cigarette butts; 6% Take-away food containers; 5% Cotton swabs; 4% Disposable cups; 3% Sanitary products; 2% Tobacco packaging; 1% Disposable straws and cutlery; 1% Plastic bags. Each of these objects can be composed of various types of plastics.

What is the most common kitty litter?

Clumping clay cat litter is the original classic. It is one of the oldest and most popular cat litter types. It forms dense clumps on contact with moisture from urine and waste, which can then be scooped out of the litter box.

What is the safest country in the world?

Is the UK a clean country?

Key takeaways. The cleanest country in the world is Estonia, according World Population Review's Cleanest Countries in the World 2025. The most sustainable countries include Honduras, Moldova, Norway, Sweden, New Zealand, and the UK, based on varying environmental, social and economic factors.

What age litters the most?

Young people from 12 to 24 years cause more litter than the average (Dutch or Belgian) person; only 18% of people who regularly cause litter were 50 years of age or older. However, a 2010 survey of littering in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont in the United States, placed litterers aged 55 and over at less than 5%.

Which dog has the most babies?

The largest litter of puppies ever reported was 24, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. This litter was born in 2004 by c-section to a Neapolitan Mastiff.

Which country litters the least?

Just taking a walk around the streets of Singapore is enough to realise you are seeing a city that takes its waste disposal seriously, with not a spot of litter or discarded chewing gum in sight.

Who accidentally invented plastic?

The first fully synthetic plastic, polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride, was inadvertently created in 1907 by scientist Leo Hendrik Baekeland in his pursuit of a less expensive and more readily available substitute for shellac.

Who invented paper?

Paper was first made in Lei-Yang, China by Ts'ai Lun, a Chinese court official. In all likelihood, Ts'ai mixed mulberry bark, hemp and rags with water, mashed it into pulp, pressed out the liquid and hung the thin mat to dry in the sun.

Was plastic used in WWII?

World War II saw an explosion in the manufacture and use of plastics, accelerated by a scarcity of traditional materials. The numbers speak for themselves. Worldwide production of plastics quadrupled during the war, increasing from under 100,000 tonnes 1939 to 365,000 tonnes in 1945.