The newest and most relevant insights
An increasing number of individuals and organisations are expressing concern about plastic cigarette filter pollution — and justifiably so. There are numerous strong and evidence-based reasons to support a ban on cigarette filters.
- Cigarette filters are by number the largest form of plastic pollution worldwide
- Plastic cigarette filters do not biodegrade in the environment
- Plastic cigarette filters breakup into microplastics and nanoplastics, accumulating in the environment
- Cigarette filters have been polluting water and land for at least seven decades
- Cleaning up is impossible (join the annual international cigarette butt cleanup day ‘No Butts Day‘ to help prove it again this year)
- Even if 90% of plastic cigarette filters would be discarded properly, still billions of butts would end up in the environment worldwide annually: awareness raising is not enough of a solution
- Plastic cigarette filters leach enormous amounts of toxins into the environment
- Plastic cigarette filters may have a carrier effect with the toxic chemicals leached from them. (the human and ecosystem impacts of this toxic chemical accumulation are unknown)
- Plastic cigarette filters are harmful to terrestrial and aquatic animals and plants
- Plastic cigarette filters pollute the waters of the planet
- Plastic cigarette filter pollution is estimated to cost US$26 billion/year in waste management and marine ecosystem damage worldwide
- Plastic cigarette filters don’t reduce harm from smoking
- Plastic cigarette filters are a design flaw, being merely a marketing tool to sell more cigarettes
- Plastic cigarette filters are unnecessary
Read more about the campaign on our FAQ-page
More information on the plastic cigarette filter pollution and deception can be found here:
- World Health Organization: Tobacco: Poisoning our planet
- ASH: The great cigarette filter fraud
- Tobacco Tactics (University of Bath): Cigarette filters
- Superior Health Council of Belgium: The impact of cigarette filters on public health and the Belgian environment
- CE Delft: Reducing the amount of cigarette filters in litter. Study into the scale of the problem and analysis of possible policy measures
- Trimbos: De sigaret mét filter: schadelijk voor mens en milieu (Dutch)
