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Tag: butts

  • Taiwan Island Rewarding Tourists for Cleaning Up Butts

    Taiwan Island Rewarding Tourists for Cleaning Up Butts

    Authorities on Taiwan’s Xiaoliuqiu island have launched a cigarette-butt cleanup incentive program aimed at promoting responsible tourism and reducing marine pollution, according to reports by CNA and other local media. The Dapeng Bay National Scenic Area Administration, working with Haiyong Studio, is encouraging visitors to collect discarded cigarette butts—often overlooked litter that can be washed into the ocean—by offering postcards and small rewards in exchange.

    Officials said the initiative builds on earlier beach cleanups and targets cigarette filters specifically because their plastic fibers do not biodegrade and pose long-term environmental risks. Cleanup tools are available at three locations on the island, and the program also includes stamp-based rewards for completing additional eco-friendly activities, with organizers saying the effort is designed to engage families and raise awareness among smokers about the impact of improper disposal.

  • Tobacco Companies Funding €1.1M to Clean Portugal’s Litter

    Tobacco Companies Funding €1.1M to Clean Portugal’s Litter

    Portuguese municipalities will receive €1.1 million a year from the tobacco industry in 2026 and 2027 to help offset the cost of cleaning discarded cigarette butts from public spaces, under a new government decree. Lisbon will receive the largest allocation, €41,153, while the smallest payment of €325 will go to Alvito. The figures apply to mainland Portugal, with allocations for the autonomous regions still to be determined. According to Jornal de Negócios, the decree sets out for the first time mandatory financial contributions from tobacco producers, calculated according to four territorial categories: urban, semi-urban, rural, and beach areas.

    The payments are based on a proposal by Único – Associação de Gestão de Plásticos de Uso Único, a non-profit body licensed since late 2024 to operate Portugal’s first extended producer responsibility system for waste from filtered tobacco products. Único, whose members include BAT, Imperial Brands, JTI, Landewick, Tabaqueira, and Electrão, said the reform makes companies financially accountable for tobacco-related litter. Beyond funding, producers are also expected to support measures to reduce improper disposal, including public awareness campaigns. The decree further requires Único to submit a national study on urban cleaning waste in 2026, in line with EU guidelines, to help determine whether current cost estimates should be revised under existing European legislation that obliges tobacco producers to finance the clean-up and management of discarded filtered products.

  • 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.