Study: 400M Cigarette Butts Littering Texas Roads

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – A study says smokers are messing with Texas more than most other people these days.

The Texas Department of Transportation released research Thursday that said nearly 400 million cigarette butts tossed on Texas roadways in 2009 helped tobacco trash become the state’s litter leader.

The study said tobacco items accounted for 43 percent of roadside trash.

State officials were encouraged by a 76 percent drop in food-related trash since the last Visible Litter Study in 2005. But the total amount of trash jumped 33 percent, to 1.1 billion pieces of litter.

Nonalcoholic drink containers were second at 13 percent of roadside litter. Household items were third at 9 percent.

The study was based on sample stretches of Texas roads.

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