Litter is part of the unseen cost of smoking. Officials in London, for example, estimate that 40 percent of the trash picked up from city streets is discarded cigarette butts, This Is London reported March 6.

A new anti-littering campaign includes fines of up to $130 for people who throw their cigarette butts on the ground; a group called Keep Britain Tidy is handling out 250,000 free pouches for smokers to store their butts.

"With nowhere to smoke in the pub or the office, smokers are nipping outside for a cigarette," said Keep Britain Tidy CEO Alan Woods. "With bars and businesses reluctant to provide bins, the result is more flung fag ends, boxes and matches and eventually a bigger council tax tab to clean them up."

It takes a cigarette filter more than a decade to degrade, anti-litter advocates noted.