Summary Reader Response Draft 3

 

In the article “A Little Robot Cleans the Beach, One Butt At a Time” (2021), Gonderman explained how beaches can be kept cigarette litter-free with the use of BeachBot(BB). BB is a battery-powered Artificial Intelligence robot developed by Edwin Bos and Martijn Lukaart. BB utilizes both of its claws to pick up cigarette butts and dispose them into its internal storage. The article mentions that BB is able to pick ‘pick some of the 4.5 trillion cigarette butts”, at a rate of “10cigarette butts in 30 minutes)”.The author also mentioned that when “chemicals and microplastic from cigarette butts” react with seawater, it causes a release of a huge amount of chemical compounds into the sea which will intoxicate marine life. In order to prevent it from happening, using “its image-detection algorithm”, BB is able to grasp what to look for. Soon, Little Associates will also be developed to aid BB in its search for cigarette butts. The author hopes that “AI robot technology” can be the future of a clean and cigarette litter-free environment through the advancement of BB and its companions.

The use of BeachBot to clear cigarettes litter on beaches is important as cigarettes on beaches can not only cause harm to marine life but also a threat to infants’ health.

With so much cigarette litter by the shores, one of the vital impacts of beach pollution would be causing harm to wild marine life. As cigarette butts are being washed into the ocean, toxic chemicals would be released into the sea, sea creatures might mistreat them as food and ingest them. An article by Francisco Asensio-Montesinos(2021) studied the causes and impacts of cigarette butts across many coastal areas in southern Spain. In his findings, he mentioned that out of the 5000 compounds present in cigarettes, at least 150 were considered to be very harmful to the aquatic environment. In addition, a laboratory study by Micevska(2006), found that Cigarette butts are extremely poisonous to “Cladocera organism” and that the main cause of toxicity was ascribed to the toxic substance that can be found in cigarettes, “nicotine and ethylphenol”. This clearly shows that having cigarette litter by the sea not only pollutes the sea but could also cause a great threat to marine wildlife.

Another critical impact that beach pollution has caused would be a threat to infants’ health. The beach is a place where families would gather for a picnic outing or an outdoor beach activity. Babies or toddlers who have not yet been educated on personal hygiene might ingest the cigarette butts that have been lying on the sand. In the article “Cigarette and Nicotine Chewing Gum Toxicity in Children” (1988) by Smolinske, he mentioned that reports of accidental consumption of cigarette butts are quite common among children, young children might be intoxicated causing vomiting and nausea if consumed at a small dose. Bigger doses might also implicate neurological symptoms as well. This clearly shows that having cigarette litter by the sea possess a great threat to humans, especially young infants or toddlers.

Although cigarette butts’ litters mainly contribute to ocean pollution. I believe that plastic plays a big role in pollution as well. Plastic is a material that we have been using in our daily lives, it comes as no surprise to the huge amount of plastics that would have been disposed of every day. Furthermore, the beach is a place where many families would heavily utilize plastics, beach users might litter just because of their indolence. In an article “Marine Plastic Pollution'' (2021) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, it was reported that, “At least 14 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year, and plastic makes up 80% of all marine debris found from surface waters to deep-sea sediments”. This has caused “Marine species to ingest or are entangled by plastic debris” which results to serious injuries or even death.

In conclusion, not only do cigarette butts play a role in contributing to marine pollution, but plastic pollution in oceans was also another contributing factor. In order to stop marine pollution, the creators should program BB to pick up plastic trash in addition to cigarette butts, I believe with this further enhancements, BB would thrive in this industry and create a better environment for not only marine creatures but also for us humans.

 

 

Slaughter, E., Gersberg, R. M., Watanabe, K., Rudolph, J., Stransky, C., & Novotny, T. E. (2011). Toxicity of cigarette butts, and their chemical components, to marine and freshwater fish. Tobacco control,

20(Suppl 1), i25-i29.

Asensio-Montesinos, F., Oliva Ramírez, M., Aguilar-Torrelo, M. T., & Anfuso, G. (2021). Abundance and distribution of cigarette butts on coastal environments: examples from southern Spain. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 9(2), 129.

Micevska, T., Warne, M. S. J., Pablo, F., & Patra, R. (2006). Variation in, and causes of, toxicity of cigarette butts to a cladoceran and microtox. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 50(2), 205-212.

Smolinske, S. C., Spoerke, D. G., Spiller, S. K., Wruk, K. M., Kulig, K., & Rumackt, B. H. (1988). Cigarette and nicotine chewing gum toxicity in children. Human toxicology, 7(1), 27-31.

Marine pollution bulletin (Online). (1970). Elsevier Science.