Overlooked hazard of cigarette butts and associated trace metals in the beach environment and implications for management and environmental sustainability.

Cigarette butts (CBs) are among the most pervasive anthropogenic litter globally, posing significant environmental challenges due to their toxic chemical constituents and cellulose acetate filters. In coastal areas, improperly discarded CBs accumulate and persist, adversely impacting both terrestrial and marine organisms and ecosystems. This study investigates the abundance, pollution status, and concentrations of heavy metals in CBs across eight tourist beaches along the Goa coast in the Eastern Arabian Sea. The mean density of CBs was recorded as 3.15 ± 0.74 CBs/m2 [ranged 0.53 ± 0.15 to 5.77 ± 0.77 CBs/m2 among beaches]. To assess the pollution status, we used the Cigarette Butt Pollution Index (CBPI), which indicates severe pollution at all the studied beaches, likely due to the high influx of beach visitors. Hazardous Item Index (HII) values further revealed that tourist beaches are more prone to high CB accumulation. Additionally, this study demonstrates that CBs from different beaches have varying concentrations of heavy metals. However, metal concentrations appear to be in a safe-to-moderate range, though Cu and Zn are somewhat elevated. The CB pollution emphasizes the need for stringent tobacco control, targeted waste management interventions, public awareness campaigns, and enforcement of littering regulations in the beach environment.