There are studies that show that animals, including fish and birds, are affected by littered cigarette butts. The ACT Govt will finally ban smoking in bus shelters – given all the other States have done so and the public support for it, this will likely go through. The public can give their support to this via the ACT Govt webpage
https://www.yoursay.act.gov.au/smokefreetransportconsultation
This will also help the animals and the plants, which is a good thing to mention if you want to make a response/submission. Who knows were the butts end up, but you can search the internet and see other countries have done studies as to the adverse effect on animals, etc
Now, “From an environmental perspective, cigarettes are the most littered item in the world and make up almost 50 per cent of litter in urban areas. Smoke-free areas can contribute to a reduction in cigarette butt litter. xvii” – viii Klepeis N, Ott W and Switzer P, Real-time measurement of outdoor tobacco smoke particles, Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association 2007, 57(5):522–34
There are many adverse effects for animals (and birds and fish) from smoking), as well as plants and the environment generally. So, even making your own point to the ACT Govt in support of banning smoking at bus shelters is useful.
There is also an AU study: Effect of cigarette butt pollution on marine life, which states “Each cigarette contains more than 3,900 chemicals including nicotine, cyanide, ammonia, cadmium, acetone and arsenic. Cigarette butts contain the toxic residue of these. The most recent ‘Clean Up Australia’ Rubbish report indicates cigarette butts are the most common item of litter collected at 12% (45,912).
It is know that seabirds, turtles and some fish to ingest butts. As the butts swell in the stomach of the animal they cause false satiation. The animal, believing it is full, refrains from eating and eventually starves to death.
This has been reported for many sea turtles in QLD and NSW. Fisheries officers also have evidence that the ‘dolphin fish’ in particular, ingests butts.”
http://www.whalesalive.org.au/resources/cigbutt.pdf