An Indonesian man was sentenced to six hours of community service and fined RM300 ($0.02) by the Sessions Court in Alor Star yesterday (January 26), after pleading guilty to discarding a cigarette butt in a public area, marking the first prosecution in Kedah under amended littering provisions of Malaysia’s Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Act 2007. The defendant, 39-year-old construction worker, admitted to the offence committed near Alor Star Tower shortly after midnight on January 1, where he was found disposing of the cigarette butt outside a designated bin. The amended law introduces mandatory community service for littering offences, allowing fines of up to RM2,000 ($0.12) and up to 12 hours of community service.
Tag: Litter
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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.
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Cigarette Butts Back in Focus Ahead of COP11
The 11th Conference of the Parties (COP11) of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) begins next week in Geneva with the purpose of eradicating tobacco and nicotine products across the globe. The gathering will cover broad topics, including tobacco marketing, youth e-cigarette use, and public health strategies, but the topic of cigarette butts appears to be gaining traction.
WHO officials will address the environmental impact of cigarette waste—saying 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are littered globally each year, creating toxic microplastics—and are expected to call for an outright ban on plastic filters in their proposals, arguing they offer negligible benefits to smokers.
“The best thing that we could see for the environment is getting rid of filters altogether,” Andrew Black, acting head of the secretariat of the FCTC, said this week. “These discarded butts are toxic and a significant source of plastic pollution, due to their filters, which do not biodegrade.”
Industry representatives, such as Greenbutts CEO Tadas Lisauskas, are closely monitoring discussions, emphasizing the need for practical, balanced solutions that consider both environmental concerns and the livelihoods of tobacco farmers and manufacturers.
“Unfiltered cigarettes would reintroduce hazards society moved away from generations ago,” Lisauskas said. “A policy intended to protect public health should not expose consumers to additional, immediate physical harm.
“Pretending that filters must be banned to solve littering is a false choice. The environmental problem can be solved without removing a proven exposure-reduction feature.”
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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.
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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.
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Butts Pollution Costs $26 Billion: Study
Photo: Funkenzauber The costs of environmental pollution caused by plastics in cigarette butts and packaging amount to an estimated $26 billion every year in waste management and marine ecosystem damage worldwide, according to a data analysis published online in Tobacco Control.
To gauge the global economic toll of tobacco waste, Deborah K. Sy of the Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control in Bangkok drew on public data sources for cigarette sales, cleanup costs and plastic waste on land and sea.
The average weight of each plastic filter is 3.4 grams. As cigarette butts are often littered along with plastic packaging, which weighs an average 19 grams for a standard pack size of 20 cigarettes, this was also included in the calculations.
The researcher estimated the annual projections of the environmental and economic costs of tobacco plastic based on the tonnage. Ten-year projections were included because cigarette butts are reported to take 10 years to degrade.
The total figure reflects cost estimates of cleanup and disposal (adjusted for inflation) of the total plastic generated by filtered cigarette sales potentially ending up as waste in the sea, landfills or in the environment.
Sy estimated that the annual economic cost of cigarette plastic waste is around $26 billion, made up of $20.7 billion in marine ecosystem damage and $5 billion in waste management costs, adding up to $186 billion over 10 years.
The costs of tobacco product plastic pollution are likely highest in China, Indonesia, Japan, Bangladesh and the Philippines, the estimates suggest.
The research was funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
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BAT Plants Flowers to Address Litter
Image: Marquicio BAT Rothmans, the Korean unit of BAT, has started a flower planting campaign called “Kkot BAT” to help prevent litter and cigarette butts in alleys.
“Kkot” translates to “flower” and “BAT” translates to “plot;” the campaign is placing flowerpots or flowerbeds in neighborhoods suffering from litter and illegal waste disposal.
BAT Rothmans has secured partnerships with nongovernmental organizations with close relationships to local communities.
“Our Kkot BAT campaign is a meaningful campaign in which companies join hands with the local community for environmental solutions,” said Kim Eun-ji, the country manager of BAT Rothmans. “We will continue to give positive influence on neighborhoods with environmental, social and corporate governance efforts.”
BAT Rothmans signed a memorandum of understanding with the Korean National Council for Conservation of Nature Seoul branch in June and planted its first flower garden in Jung-gu, Seoul, near BAT Rothmans’ headquarters.
Following its first campaign, BAT Rothmans will plant about 20 flower gardens all over Seoul, with plans to expand its influence to Gwanak-gu, Dobong-gu and Nowon-gu by the end of the year.
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Study: Vape Litter Out of Control
Photo: bennyrobo The majority of single-use vapes are disposed of improperly, with the number increasing, according to a Material Focus study.
“Since we last published our research, the problem with single-use vapes has gotten further out of control,” said Scott Butler, executive director of Material Focus. “Single-use vapes are a strong contender for being the most environmentally wasteful, damaging and dangerous consumer product ever made. And still very few producers and retailers comply with environmental regulations and haven’t put recycling drop-off points and systems in place. This all means that too often local authorities are being burdened with the major operational and financial headaches associated with what is now the fastest growing and most dangerous waste stream in the U.K., single-use vapes.
“Vapes, like any other electrical with a plug, battery or cable, should never be binned and always be recycled as a minimum. We need rapid growth in the number of accessible and visible vape recycling drop-off points. And we need proper financing of genuine recycling solutions to recover materials and manage fire risks. The solution is clear: immediate, significant and transparent vape industry voluntary action in advance of planned regulatory changes already earmarked by Defra. The U.K. needs more accessible recycling drop-off points in stores, in parks, in public spaces near offices, bars and pubs, and in schools, colleges and universities. With 75 percent of vapers thinking that producers and retailers should provide more information that states that vapes can be recycled, the word ‘disposable’ should no longer be used in any marketing and promotion.
“Until single-use vape producers, importers and retailers act to genuinely comply with and finance their legal environmental responsibilities, then the calls for banning the sale of them will only strengthen.”
The U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) acknowledged the environmental challenge posted by single-use vape and said it was committed to helping develop solutions to the problem.
“We welcome the solutions put forward by Material Focus and are leading industry action in a number of these areas and more,” the UKVIA wrote in a statement. “Education of consumers about how to recycle single-use vapes; product innovations that enhance recycling rates; compliance with the current regulations; and investment in waste collection points at point of use and not just at point of sale are all critical in reducing the environmental impact of single-use vapes.
“We must protect the environment while also recognizing the contribution disposable vapes have made in helping adult smokers start on their quit journeys, in turn helping to achieve the government’s 2030 smoke-free ambition. The devices are one of the main reasons why for a second year running, smoking rates have hit record low levels in Great Britain, according to Office of National Statistics data published this week. Cigarettes are also still the single most littered item on the planet. Over a billion smokers worldwide discard a combined 4.5 trillion cigarette butts every year.
“Over 250 people die every day in the U.K. from smoking, and cigarettes cost the NHS [National Health Service] around £2.6 billion [$3.25 billion] every year; this is a huge price to pay, and disposable vapes offer a highly effective, proven and considerably less harmful alternative than conventional cigarettes because of their accessibility, ease of use and price points.”
The UKVIA added that they will be launching a “Sustainable Vaping Week” to help educate e-cigarette users about proper disposal of single-use, and other, devices.
Secondhand Smoke Can Increase Lead Levels: Study
Secondhand smoke may be a source of chronic lead exposure in children and adolescents, according to a recent BMC Public Health study.
The study analyzed national data on blood lead levels and secondhand smoke exposure in children and teenagers ages 6 to 19 from 2015 to 2018. Levels of lead and cotinine were assessed, and it was found that average blood lead levels in what was considered the intermediate and high tobacco smoke exposure groups were 18 percent and 29 percent higher, respectively, than levels in the lowest tobacco smoke exposure group. The study also showed that a larger number of boys had detectable lead levels as well as a larger number of Black children and adolescents compared to other ethnic groups studied.
Children aged 6 to 10 were more likely to have elevated lead levels than older subjects, and children in low-income households had a 27 percent higher lead level than children from high-income households.
This lead exposure creates a dangerous situation for youth; lead does not dilute when exposure decreases and the body does not naturally excrete the metal. Lead accumulates in the bones and leaches into blood, and exposure can lead to numerous neurological problems like nerve damage, cognitive problems, loss of IQ points and potentially Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia. The only way to remove lead from the body is through an oral medical treatment, according to the Conversation.
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Study: Filter Ban Only Way to Halt Pollution
Photo: Yakiv Banning cigarette filters is the only way to stop tobacco product pollution, according to a new study published by the Dutch sustainability think tank CE Delft and reported by Dutch News.
Every year, Dutch smokers discard an estimated 200 million to 7.1 billion cigarette butts into the environment.
The current policy of limiting toxic waste by discouraging smoking is not working, according to CE Delft. The organization is also skeptical about the potential of butt deposit schemes. Consumer research has shown that just over one quarter of smokers said they would be willing to hold on to their butts until they had an opportunity to discard them at a collection point.
Dutch Junior Environment Minister Vivianne Heijnen wants to reduce the number of discarded filters, which contain plastics and chemicals, by 70 percent in 2026. The current measures, which include general awareness campaigns and a smoking ban on beaches, have resulted in only a 15 percent decrease, CE Delft found.
In 2022 alone, volunteers collected almost 90,000 cigarette butts during a two-week cleanup of the Dutch beaches, amid 4,400 kilos of waste left by beachgoers.
A ban on cigarette filters will become feasible in 2026 when the European Union will review its rules on single-use plastics, the report noted.
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Baltimore Sues Tobacco Companies Over Litter
Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive The city of Baltimore is suing several major tobacco companies, requesting as much as $5 million annually for the cleanup of cigarette butt litter, according to WBALTV11.
Since 2014, more than 12 million cigarette butts have been cleaned up from the waters surrounding Baltimore, city officials said.
“There are all kinds of cleanup problems, from catching them [cigarette butts] to getting rid of the chemicals they leave in their wake,” said James Shea, Baltimore City solicitor.
The lawsuit alleges that the tobacco companies have refused to place warnings on their boxes explaining how to properly dispose of filters and that they have chosen not to make filters biodegradable.
“They didn’t change it—according to documents we’ve seen—to biodegradable filters because smokers preferred the draw that comes with the filter,” Shea said.
The ultimate goal is to see the companies become more environmentally friendly, according to Shea. “We’d like to have the practice stop, but, in the meantime, we want damages in the nature of cleanup costs and their fines associated with various litter ordinances that are being violated.”
The companies have 30 days to respond in court.