As You Sow has filed a shareholder proposal calling for U.S. tobacco company Altria Group to take financial responsibility for collection and cleanup costs of littered cigarette filters.
Altria and other cigarette companies should participate in extended producer responsibility programs for cigarette butts in the U.S., As You Sow said. Until such policies are adopted in the country, AYS calls for the cigarette industry to set aside “billions of dollars annually to voluntarily support ongoing state and municipal cigarette filter cleanup efforts.” The filters are considered a type of single-use plastic.
Tobacco companies already comply with cigarette butt cleanup regulations in Denmark, France and Spain. Such tobacco producers in the European Union participate in cigarette filter EPR programs under the EU’s Single-Use Plastics Directive.
In the U.S., “cleanup costs have historically been borne by taxpayers rather than the industry that places these destructive products on the market,” said Conrad MacKerron, senior vice president of As You Sow, in a statement. “As a generator of enormous amounts of plastic filter cigarette waste, Altria must begin to take financial responsibility for cleanup.”
Cigarette filters are the most littered type of plastic on the planet, As You Sow says, citing a research study from the journal Science of the Total Environment. The World Health Organization says about 4.5 trillion cigarette butts with plastic acetate filters are littered each year.
Such cigarette filters contain toxic chemicals such as tar, arsenic and lead. They also do not biodegrade, making them a source of microplastics, AYS said in the resolution.
Altria did not respond to a request for comment. On its website, the company says it has donated $15.8 million to Keep America Beautiful since 2002 to support the organization’s litter prevention programs, which include building cigarette receptacles, organizing community cleanups and education campaigns.
Altria says it is also “exploring sustainable plastic alternatives” for its cigarettes and other products. Other waste companies have tried to tackle cigarette butt cleanups, including TerraCycle, which offers a mail-in cigarette filter takeback program.
