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Tag: butts

  • Greece Wants Tobacco Companies to Pay for Butt Cleanup

    Greece Wants Tobacco Companies to Pay for Butt Cleanup

    Greece proposed a new framework that would require tobacco companies to help fund the cleanup of cigarette butts from beaches and public spaces, under the “polluter pays” principle. The plan would create a nationwide collection system to finance municipal cleanup efforts and install public ashtrays and bins. The Hellenic Recycling Organization has set reduction targets of 10% fewer scattered butts within three years and 30% within five, as Greece seeks to curb one of the country’s most visible forms of pollution.

    Environmental group WWF Greece welcomed the move but said it doesn’t go far enough, urging the government to impose a €0.019 per-filter fee to create an independent cleanup and innovation fund. Cigarette filters, classified as single-use plastics since 2020 under EU law, were supposed to be managed under a national system starting in 2023, but implementation has been delayed by negotiations with the tobacco industry.

  • Tourists at Heart of Japan’s Cigarette Butt Problem

    Tourists at Heart of Japan’s Cigarette Butt Problem

    A new survey found cigarette butt litter around Osaka, Japan’s Namba Station to be four times higher than at Tokyo Station, highlighting challenges in enforcing the city’s street smoking ban among tourists. The survey, commissioned by the Osaka Prefecture food service industry sanitation association, revealed Namba as the worst offender among six locations nationwide. While street smoking has been banned citywide since January, limited designated smoking areas and confusion among visitors have contributed to widespread littering.

    Namba, home to popular tourist spots like Dotonbori, attracts many international visitors from countries where outdoor smoking is still permitted. Communicating Japan’s local rules to these travelers remains a hurdle, according to the officials.

  • Seatca Urges UN to Ban Plastic Cigarette Filters

    Seatca Urges UN to Ban Plastic Cigarette Filters

    The Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (Seatca) is urging the United Nations to impose a global ban on plastic-based cigarette filters, as final negotiations for a global plastic pollution treaty take place in Geneva this week. Seatca warned that 460 billion cigarette butts are discarded annually in ASEAN countries alone, contributing to a global total of 4.5 trillion. “The filters, made of cellulose acetate, degrade slowly, releasing toxic microplastics, nicotine, and heavy metals into ecosystems,” the organization said.

    Calling cigarette filters “a health fraud and an environmental hazard,” Seatca demanded the treaty enforce the polluter-pays principle, reject industry lobbying, and require mandatory cleanup systems for tobacco waste. They also criticized so-called “eco-filters” and “green butts” as greenwashing tactics, insisting that no sustainable alternatives exist for cigarette filters and calling for a complete ban on all types.

    Seatca estimates that ASEAN countries currently spend $10 billion annually to clean up cigarette filter waste.

  • Volunteers Pick Up 1M Cigarette Butts

    Volunteers Pick Up 1M Cigarette Butts

    On July 5, volunteers from 25 countries collected nearly 1 million cigarette butts on as part of the expanding global clean-up campaign known as “No Butts Day.” The initiative, launched in the Netherlands in 2019, aims to raise awareness of cigarette filter pollution and advocate for a global ban on plastic filters.

    In Leiden, Netherlands, local environmental group Grachtwacht hosted its fifth annual clean-up, with 30 volunteers gathering over 35,000 cigarette butts in just two hours. One volunteer reported collecting over 750 butts near a central café, while others found hun-dreds more outside Leiden University Medical Center.

    Organizers blamed the spike in litter this year on the recent heatwave and crowds drawn by the city’s annual Lakenfeesten festival.

  • Taiwan: 25% of Cigarettes Become Litter

    Taiwan: 25% of Cigarettes Become Litter

    About 25% of the cigarettes sold in Taiwan are improperly discarded, according to Environmental Management Administration Director-General Yen Hsu-ming, resulting in about 9 billion butts on the streets that could fall into gutters and flow into the ocean.

    The government is looking to combat the environmental issue in numerous ways, including education, fining litterers, monitoring popular smoking points such as convenience stores, distributing 1,800 cigarette snuffers across the city, and launching a clean-up event named “Team Planet,” where 50,000 volunteers picked up litter from the streets.  

    Minister of Environment Peng Chi-ming attended the event in Taipei’s Ximending shopping area, saying that maintaining clean streets, keeping cigarette butts of the ground, and preventing dengue fever are the three goals for this year to echo Earth Day.