FAQ

Nearly all cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate (plastic), which not only leeches harmful toxins into the environment but also fails to biodegrade. It falls apart into microplastics and nanoplastics. Cigarette filters are inherently toxic, and the use of plastic only exacerbates the environmental damage. Due to the tobacco use, toxic substances including nicotine and arsenic are present in the filter and when decomposed, they enter the environment where they accumulate. While alternatives made from ‘bioplastics’ are often marketed as eco-friendly, they pose similar problems. These filters degrade very slowly, and sometimes not at all, while continuing to release toxins – making them more of a greenwashing tactic than a genuine solution.

With numerous national and international legislative opportunities to address single use plastics, the campaign aims to achieve a ban on plastic cigarette filters as an initial step. The ultimate goal is to see this ban adopted globally. No Plastic Filter seeks to set a precedent.

Through finding global support, we plan to support governments towards implementing a ban. Santa Cruz County in California, United States, has banned the sale of all filtered cigarettes and the country of Bhutan imposed a comprehensive ban on all tobacco products in 2010. We are currently focusing on the national level (Netherlands), the European Union (via the Single-Use Plastics Directive), the United Nations (via the Global Plastics Treaty) and the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. In addition, we work together with and support local initiatives worldwide to reach more (inter)national bans. If you know of any interesting legislative opportunities, we’d love to hear from you! We’ll generate support through actions like communication through influencers, No Butts Day, media attention, building manifests with different types of organisations, and more.

The tobacco industry is the only industry in the world that is not allowed to influence policy, as stated in article 5.3 of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. It is a legislative theme on public health and environment and the UN Global Plastics Treaty and FCTC should be aligned.

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is increasingly being applied across product categories, holding producers and importers accountable for raising awareness, the collection and treatment of their products when they become waste. While EPR for plastic cigarette filters already exists in parts of the world, it has failed to solve the problem. Instead, it has provided the tobacco industry a platform to greenwash its image and shift the responsibility onto the consumer rather than the corporations driving cigarette filter pollution. 

For example, in the European Union, the tobacco industry is partially paying for awareness raising campaigns and the cleanup costs of cigarette filters, but these payments fall short of covering the true expenses. Only a tiny fraction of cigarette filters are actually collected through the EPR systems. EPR is the tobacco industry’s preferred solution because it establishes them as an equivalent industry to other industries, requires only minimal financial contribution and avoids addressing the root issue: the harmful product design. EPR allows continued mass production of plastic filters that leach toxins into the environment. In France and Spain the tobacco industry even manages the Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) in charge of collecting, transporting, and processing the waste. This would not only undermine transparency but opens the door to further greenwashing – an approach that directly violates the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

Bio-based plastic filters do not fully degrade in natural environments – or when eaten by animals – either, like other plastics. They take a very long time to decompose, while leaching toxins like the current plastic filters. Bio-based plastic filters are not a solution to the enormous environmental problem caused by cigarette filters. Rather, they create an opportunity for greenwashing by the tobacco industry.

We don’t believe in an alternative, that is meant to filter toxic substances, that does not contribute to environmental contamination through chemical leaching or degradation. Filters will always end up in the environment, that’s ingrained in the design. There is no such thing as a truly “green” or “sustainable” cigarette filter. Moreover, cigarette filters do not reduce the health risks associated with smoking – in fact, they may worsen them (see the questions about health). Studies have shown that filters can increase harm by encouraging deeper inhalation or misleading smokers into thinking cigarettes are less dangerous. Their only real function is to enhance the product’s appeal to smokers, not to protect one’s health or the environment.

Recycling is a downstream solution and shifts responsibility to individuals, echoing the tobacco industry’s strategy to avoid accountability. Moreover, filters are classified as toxic waste and there is no safe, scalable, or sustainable way to recycle them. Recycling is not a realistic solution for cigarette butts.

Plastic cigarette filters are a fundamentally flawed product, designed by the tobacco industry without regard for environmental consequences. By design, they are likely to end up as litter: up to two-thirds of all filtered cigarettes sold are discarded improperly. Even if 90% were disposed of in bins, billions would still leak into the environment every year. The industry knowingly and willingly caused tremendous pollution – and misled smokers – when they introduced the plastic cigarette filter in the 1950s.

Pocket ashtrays shift responsibility to individuals, echoing the tobacco industry’s strategy to avoid accountability. While they may slightly reduce litter, they are a downstream solution that distracts from the need to phase out the harmful product altogether. Some designs even promote smoking by including lighters or brand messages, further normalizing tobacco use.

No Butts Day is not meant to suggest that cleanups are not the answer. Rather, it draws public and media attention to the scale of the problem– showing that the issue is far too large to be solved with cleanups alone. It’s a call to action in support of banning plastic cigarette filters.

They’re the same product in different stages of its lifecycle: a cigarette butt is a cigarette filter in its waste stage. All cigarette filters become butts at some point.

These products are also a major design flaw and an environmental hazard. Vapes contain  hard plastics, lithium-ion batteries, heavy metals, and toxic chemicals that pollute the environment- much like plastic cigarette filters. Vaping is not an environmentally friendly alternative. Moreover, youth vaping often leads to smoking filtered cigarettes. For more information on the health effects of vaping we refer to the World Health Organization and tobacco control organisations and national health alliances like the Dutch Gezondheidsfondsen voor Rookvrij.

The environmental damage caused by the growing and curing, manufacturing, distribution and transportation, and product consumption, including second hand and third hand smoke is immense. However, this campaign specifically targets pollution caused by post-consumption cigarette butts. For more information we refer to the World Health Organisation-report ‘’Tobacco: poisoning our planet’’.

The vast majority of independent research shows that cigarette filters do not have any proven health benefits and do not diminish the harmful effects of smoking. They rather have the opposite effect: filters can enhance the harmful effects of smoking, because they influence the conditions of tobacco combustion which increases the amount of certain carcinogenic compounds. These compounds can cause a specific type of lung cancer (adenocarcinoma). Toxic fibres from the cut end of the filter can also be inhaled and ingested by smokers. Cigarettes without filters will make it more difficult to initiate smoking because of the harshness.

Given the negative health and environmental implications associated with cigarette filters, the WHO and the FCTC Secretariat have recommended an immediate ban on cigarette filters in the context of the negotiations of the UN treaty to end plastic pollution, recognizing them as ‘’problematic and avoidable plastics’’. Additionally, small holes in cigarette filters (“filter ventilation”) cause smokers to inhale more deeply and more often. The European Commission must take action to curb the rigged cigarette, because of misleading measurement methods. That was the tenor at the hearing of the European Court of Justice in the enforcement case that the Youth Smoking Prevention Foundation started in 2019. The Advocate General will share his conclusion on 10 July. Banning filters would likely lead to far more adults quitting cigarettes and far fewer children starting, because filters mask the harshness of combusted tobacco. This, in turn, has huge positive effects on the environment and public health. For more information on the health effects of filters we refer to the advice of the Belgian Superior Health Council, and to the tobacco control organisations and national tobacco control health alliances like the Dutch Gezondheidsfondsen voor Rookvrij.

Plastic cigarette filters were introduced in the 1950’s as a marketing strategy, coinciding with the first widespread health concerns about smoking. Originally, they were designed to make cigarettes more “accessible” and appealing –particularly to women– filters have always served more as a sales tool than a health measure. Despite decades of use, filters have repeatedly been shown to be ineffective at reducing harm. They are industry gimmicks intended to create the illusion that cigarettes are less harmful. In reality, smokers often compensate by inhaling more deeply or more frequently, increasing their exposure to the harmful substances in the tobacco and the filter. For more information on the health effects of filters we refer to the advice of the Belgian Superior Health Council, and to the tobacco control organisations and national tobacco control health alliances like the Dutch Gezondheidsfondsen voor Rookvrij.

This wasn’t a problem before filters came on the scene (remember, it was a prophylactic to placate health concerns, not actually addressing health effects). Almost all commercial cigarettes aren’t just made of tobacco but an extrude of pulp and many ingredients like sugars, ammonias, urea, and other chemicals, which provide a steady burn and compactness of the cigarette without bits coming loose.

The campaign is made possible by a variety of funders, donations by supporters and through the time invested by all supporters of the call.

This campaign is initiated by Dutch NGO Fair Resource Foundation. It builds on the efforts of the Plastic Peuken Collectief (Plastic Cigarette Butt Collective), a Dutch coalition advocating for a national ban on plastic cigarette filters.

The Plastic Cigarette Butt Collective (Dutch: Plastic Peuken Collectief), founded in 2019, is a collaboration of NGOs, companies and litter-pickers dedicated to endingplastic cigarette filter pollution in the Netherlands. The group launched the national campaign to ban plastic cigarette filters, including No Butts Day (Dutch: Plastic PeukMeuk), petition efforts, and political engagement. The collective currently consists of Het Peukenmeisje, GoClean, Stichting De Noordzee, Zwerfie Rotterdam, Plandelman, Yogi Hendlin and Fair Resource Foundation. Previous members of the collective: Seavents, Straw by Straw, Ecomondo, Sea Going Green, Wereld Natuur Fonds (WWF NL), The Bamboo Brush Society / WeSmyle and Plastic Soup Surfer.

This campaign focuses on the environmental impact of filters. However, we acknowledge that plastic cigarette filters not only harm the environment but carry health risks. For the health effects we refer to the World Health Organization and tobacco control organisations and national health alliances like the Dutch Gezondheidsfondsen voor Rookvrij or the Belgian Alliantie voor een Rookvrije Samenleving.

If you or your organisation want to support the campaign, please use the donation button (launched soon), send an email to info@noplasticfilter.org or get in touch via LinkedIn or Instagram.

Yes, you can! Please share your ideas via email: info@noplasticfilter.org, or get in touch via LinkedIn or Instagram.