The impacts of littered cigarette butts on the common periwinkle (Littorina littorea)

Cigarette butts are one of the most abundant litter items worldwide with an estimated 4.5 trillion filters dropped each year. These small objects often end up in natural waterways through wastewater and flooding. Filters are made of cellulose acetate fibres and designed to capture the harmful chemicals of smoke, which makes them hazardous waste if disposed inappropriately. As well as chemical leachate, filters release microplastic fibres as they fragment. A laboratory mesocosm experiment was used to measure the impacts of leachate and microplastic fibres from cigarette butts on a marine gastropod (Littorina littorea) including mortality, growth, feeding rate, digestion, and water avoidance. Three concentrations of cigarette butt leachate (0.25CB/L, 0.5CB/L, 1CB/L) and three concentrations of filter microplastic (0.25F/L, 0.5F/L, 1F/L) were introduced to test difference in the impacts of physical and chemical stressors. Exposure to leachate altered water avoidance activity, decreased food intake, and increased mortality. Similarly, microplastic treatments also decreased food intake and increased mortality in high concentration tanks. This demonstrates a rapid stress response to both physical and chemical aspects of cigarette butt littering of a common grazer marine gastropod. Also see: https://micro2024.sciencesconf.org/559463/document