Problem-Solution Speech

General Purpose: To Persuade and provide a solution
Specific Purpose: To help my audience understand the amount of litter that is produced by cigarettes
Thesis: Cigarette pollution is the worlds largest litter and it must be addressed.

Introduction: 1. A man strolls casually down the street, looks around and takes one last puff from his Marlboro then he casually throws it in the direction of the nearest street drain. This is a situation we have all seen and maybe even performed. At best the cigarette lays there on the ground and a street sweeper may pick it up. However the more likely thing to happen is that he makes his shot in the drain or it soon rains and the water takes the cigarette but down the drain with it, it will follow the same path millions take every year. It flows underground and will eventually make it to out waterways. According to (www.cigarettelitter.org/) Globally, approximately 4.3 trillion cigarette butts are littered every year. Smokers in the USA account for over 250 billion cigarette butts, in the UK 200 tonnes of butts are discarded, and Australian smokers litter over 7 billion cigarette butts annually. In most Western countries cigarette butt litter accounts for around 50% of all litter. Cigarette butt litter is a major problem at our beaches, in the ocean and throughout the watersheds which carry water, trash and debris to our beaches. Cigarette butts discarded in parking lots, along sidewalks and in street gutters miles from the coast inevitably make their way through storm drains, creeks and rivers to the beach and the ocean. Direct litter of cigarette butts at the beach adds to the problem. It isn't just a matter of unsightly trash and litter. Toxins from cigarettes collect on the filter and are then washed out into our waterways and the ocean.