By Anissa Adams, Community Engagement Coordinator @ The SOL Project
Every person deserves the right to breathe clean air. Research shows that smoke from many sources contains harmful chemicals that damage health. Whether it comes from tobacco, vaping products, cannabis, or wood burning, smoke releases toxins into the air that affect everyone nearby [1][2].
Smoke does not stay with the person using the product. It spreads into homes, workplaces, parks, and shared spaces. Children, elders, and neighbors can all be exposed to harmful particles without ever choosing to be.
Secondhand smoke is especially dangerous because people often cannot control their exposure. Children, pregnant individuals, people with asthma, and older adults are particularly vulnerable. Even brief exposure can irritate the lungs and trigger breathing problems. Over time, repeated exposure has been linked to serious health conditions including heart disease, respiratory illness, and cancer [1][3].
This is why smoke free policies have become one of the most successful public health protections in modern history. By limiting smoking in indoor workplaces and public spaces, communities have reduced exposure to harmful toxins and improved health outcomes [3].
When many people hear the word smoke, they often think only of cigarettes. But science shows that smoke from different sources can contain similar harmful particles. Wood smoke, for example, contains fine particulate matter known as PM2.5, which can travel deep into the lungs and bloodstream and increase the risk of heart and lung disease [4]. The problem is, community members are often inhaling smoke that is even more dangerous because of the added elements seen in tobacco, cannabis, and vape smoke.
Today, communities are also facing a growing environmental problem that many people are just beginning to notice: toxic waste from tobacco and vaping products.
Cigarette filters are the most littered item in the world, with an estimated 4.5 trillion cigarette butts discarded globally every year [5]. These filters contain plastic fibers and toxic chemicals that can leach into soil and waterways.
Disposable vapes add a new layer to this problem. Unlike cigarettes, these products are small electronic devices that contain plastics, heavy metals, chemical residues, and lithium ion batteries. When thrown away, they become hazardous electronic waste. Millions of disposable vapes are discarded each year, with estimates suggesting Americans threw away more than five devices every second in 2023 [6].
Improperly discarded vape devices can leak toxic substances into soil and water, and the lithium batteries inside them can cause fires in garbage trucks, recycling centers, and landfills [6][7]. In other words, vaping products create several forms of pollution at once: plastic waste, hazardous chemical waste, and electronic waste.
For communities already facing environmental burdens, this growing waste stream raises serious concerns. African American communities and other historically disadvantaged neighborhoods have long been targeted by tobacco industry marketing, especially for menthol cigarettes [8]. For decades, tobacco companies had more advertising, price discounts, and sponsorships in Black neighborhoods and cultural spaces. As a result, about 85 percent of African American smokers use menthol cigarettes compared to less than 30 percent of white smokers [8]. This targeted marketing has caused higher rates of tobacco related disease and death in these communities.
Clean air is not only a public health issue. It is also a social, racial, and environmental justice issue.
As tobacco and vaping products evolve, public policies must evolve as well. Many cities use Tobacco Retail Licensing, also known as TRL, to regulate where tobacco products can be sold and to ensure retailers follow local health laws. These policies can reduce youth access and help communities enforce smoke free protections [9].
Some communities are now exploring ways to strengthen these policies by including tobacco waste mitigation fees as part of retail licensing programs. These fees would require retailers who sell tobacco and vaping products to help with the costs of managing the environmental waste created by those products.
This approach follows a common environmental principle: industries that produce harmful waste should help pay for cleanup and mitigation. Applying this concept to tobacco and vaping devices could help communities address the growing burden of cigarette butts, vape cartridges, batteries, and plastics that are in these products.
These discussions are also connected to a broader public health strategy known as the Tobacco Endgame. The Endgame is a long-term effort to reduce and eventually eliminate the widespread availability of the most harmful tobacco products in order to prevent future generations from becoming addicted to products that cause disease and environmental damage [10].
Local research is also helping communities understand how these strategies could work. A feasibility study conducted through the SOL Project explored community awareness and support for stronger tobacco policies in parts of California and found strong interest among residents in policies that protect youth, reduce harmful marketing, and improve community health [11].
Community voices are essential to this effort. Residents, youth leaders, faith organizations, and community groups all play a role in shaping policies that protect health and the environment. This Earth Day reminds us that protecting the planet also means protecting the air we breathe and the neighborhoods we live in.
Community members can help by learning about local policies, supporting smoke free environments, and encouraging decision makers to adopt stronger protections. Joining community organizations, attending public meetings, and sharing information with neighbors are simple but powerful ways to get involved.
Everyone deserves to live, work, and play in places where clean air is the norm, not the exception. By supporting smoke free policies, responsible regulation of harmful products, and long-term strategies like the Tobacco Endgame, we can help ensure that future generations grow up in healthier communities.
Because when it comes to tobacco, vaping, cannabis, or any product that produces harmful smoke or toxic waste, the truth remains simple.
Smoke is smoke.
References
- U.S. Surgeon General. The Health Consequences of Smoking: 50 Years of Progress. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
- World Health Organization. Tobacco and its Environmental Impact: An Overview.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Secondhand Smoke and Health.
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Particulate Matter (PM2.5) and Health Effects.
- Ocean Conservancy. International Coastal Cleanup Reports on Cigarette Butt Pollution.
- U.S. PIRG Education Fund. Vape Waste: The Environmental Impact of Disposable E-Cigarettes.
- Truth Initiative. The Environmental Impact of E-Cigarettes.
- African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council. Menthol and Targeted Marketing in African American Communities.
- Public Health Law Center. Tobacco Retail Licensing: Policy Options for Communities.
- American Cancer Society. Tobacco Endgame Strategies to End the Tobacco Epidemic.
- SOL Project. Community Feasibility Research on Tobacco Endgame Policy Awareness and Support.
