The thing about disposable lighters is they most likely are not recyclable and an often littered item. Most land up in our storm drains and guess what, animals eat them.
I Just Gotta Eco Ya
- One billion lighters are sold per year in the U.S.
- Americans throw away 350 million disposable lighters,
- 14 confirmed deaths from malfunctioning lighters during the period 1994 to 2002.
- Swedish Match says that about one million matches can be made from each average-sized aspen. The average smoker would kill one tree in their lifetime using matches vs. killing multitudes of animals from lighter litter.
- Cigarette lighter fuel is responsible for 64% of substance abuse deaths in the UK (Source)
- From August 2010- May 2011 over 1900 lighters were picked up as litter in 600 miles of shoreline in New York
What to Do?
- Use matches rather than lighter. Better for the environment.
- Call Your local recycling center and see if they recycle.
- Take apart and recycle the metal and as many parts as you can.
- You can also refill disposable lighters. See here.
Ways to Reuse;
This is a tough one, as you don’t want to give to your kids or animals to play with. Between leftover fluids, flints and the easy break-ability of the plastic, your kids and animals would be eating toxic waste..
1.) You can always reuse the flint
2.) Make a Motorbike.
3.) Make Lamps
4.) Make Street Art
5.) Check out these other copyrighted images on Flickr
Bottom line, quit smoking and most the lighters will go away. Use matches and if you do, dispose of properly.
Resources
Amazing, these are creative ways to reduce lighter scraps. Maybe making lighter even more disposable or having an awareness campaign such as collections similar to the old cellphone recycling.
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