Cigarette Filters: Unnecessary, Yet A Danger To The Environment And Human Health
Recently, the Civil Society Organization Unit of the United Nations Environment Programme released a new article in the 45th issue of Perspectives, entitled "Plastic Tobacco Filters - An Unnecessary Plastic that Affects the Environment and Human Health". The article was written by the non-governmental organization "No more Butts". "No more Butts" is an organization dedicated to tobacco filters. The article also talks about how the "Plastic Treaty" can be an opportunity to defeat this toxic plastic pollution. In order to help global environmental governance, the editor of Ocean Wetlands now summarizes the main content of the article as follows for interested readers to refer to.
Tobacco filters are an unnecessary plastic product that can be avoided. As almost all cigarettes contain filters made of plastic, cigarette butts are the most littered item in the world. It is estimated that 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are discarded into the environment every year, with up to 40% ending up in sewers.
Not only do cigarette butts pollute hundreds of trillions of tons of water each year, but they can take up to 15 years to degrade, so the cumulative impact of plastic waste is also quite significant.
Cigarette butts enter ecosystems and leach toxic chemicals into soil, air and water, leading to biodiversity loss. In addition, cigarette transportation also produces pollution, and the final plastic pollution problem also affects the environment.
In addition to the microplastics produced during degradation, tobacco filters absorb many chemicals during smoking, which can leach into the environment when littered. Many of these issues are currently considered issues of concern by the United Nations.
The World Health Organization's call for a ban on tobacco filters by 2022 was recently supported by research from the Belgian High Council of Health, and the "Plastics Treaty" negotiations provide an excellent opportunity for member states to take action against this form of toxic plastic pollution.
The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) was convened under the mandate of UN Environment Resolution 5/14 to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment. Often referred to as the Plastic Treaty.
The INC has previously met in Uruguay, France and Kenya, and will meet twice more in 2024, with the mandate to complete negotiations by the end of 2024.
At the third Intergovernmental Meeting in Nairobi in November 2023, Member States and Observers were able to provide oral and written feedback on these documents, as well as other substantive topics, after nine days of discussions. Palau was the first Member State to intervene on tobacco filters, stressing that they “want to call for cigarette filters to be included in this list, as they are the most littered item in the world, harming land and marine ecosystems”, are very difficult to collect, and break down into toxic microplastics. Panama then echoed Palau's position in its oral statement. The World Health Organization also intervened to support their pre-meeting submissions calling for a ban on tobacco filters as an alternative.
No more Butts called for member states to consider taking action to include tobacco filters in any list of problematic and avoidable products, as well as plastics of concern, as a country-led negotiating process.
Because cigarettes not only contain avoidable and problematic plastics, but they also raise issues related to issues of concern, including chemicals and microplastics, when consumed and littered.
