A ban on plastic cigarette filters risks lock-in: from one polluting and misleading product to another
Three months in the campaign we changed our goal: from a plastic cigarette filter ban to an all filter ban. The decision didn’t come overnight: we knew it might sound radical and that we might lose support in society, government and politics. But the risks of a lock-in outweighed the risk of losing some support.
Considerations: all filters are polluting and misleading
No matter what alternative filter would be introduced, it would still be littered by design, toxically pollute the environment and trick people who smoke into thinking they would be somewhat protected. These considerations led to our decision to change the objective.
Initially, we focused on a ban on plastic cigarette filters, for three reasons: almost all current cigarette filters contain plasticized fibres, there’s increasing support for eliminating single-use plastics and politicians might feel more inclined to support a ban which leaves room for alternative filters.
Plastic is still an important part of the campaign. But any substitute material for a cigarette filter would still be polluting, misleading and costing our society. Smoking without a filter is not new: it was the default but the deceiving filters were introduced. Although we don’t want to promote smoking in any way: if you ask us about the only defendable alternative, it would be filterless cigarettes.
Same campaign, new goal
We kept the original name of the campaign, and just added brackets. We kept the URL. Our strategy hasn’t changed either: from awareness raising and public mobilisation to lobby with (inter)national governments and politics. We focus on legislative opportunities in the Netherlands, European Union and the United Nations. The desired outcome: no more toxic cigarette filter pollution in our living environment.
Join the No (Plastic) Filter-campaign!
You can join in on the action and help move governments and politicians worldwide to implement an international ban on cigarette filters by:
- Sign the call
- Participate in No Butts Day 2026
- Participate in international cigarette filter monitoring
- Sign up as National Ambassador (link to page – Quinty maken)
- Participate in the public consultation for the Single-Use Plastics Directive of the European Union (2025/2026) (we’ll provide you with instructions: subscribe to our newsletter (see bottom of the page) or follow the campaign via LinkedIn and Instagram)
- Sign our letter to members of the United Nations
- Make a donation and help to make our work possible
Visit our Take Action-page to find more ways to help achieve a ban on cigarette filters!