Time to kick the butt of the most common litter item in the world: Ban cigarette filters

2022/12/29 by Dannielle S. Green, Bethanie Carney Almroth, Rebecca Altman +7 · 1 voice · 1 citation
Environmental Science · Medicine · #Leech Biology and Applications #Microplastics and Plastic Pollution

paper · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.161256

openalex publication_date 2022/12/29 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23

Abstract

Cigarette filters offer no public health benefits, are single-use plastics (cellulose acetate) and are routinely littered. Filters account for a significant proportion of plastic litter worldwide, requiring considerable public funds to remove, and are a source of microplastics. Used cigarette filters can leech toxic chemicals and pose an ecological risk to both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Bottom-up measures, such as focusing on consumer behaviour, are ineffective and we need to impose top-down solutions (i.e., bans) if we are to reduce the prevalence of this number one litter item. Banning filters offers numerous ecological, socioeconomic, and public health benefits.

Citations

• Littering in Context

Cited by

• Smoking microplastics: Global evidence of microplastic contamination in cigarette tobacco

Discussions

• And excitingly* not only do they not work, they're environmentally toxic as well doi.org/10.1016/j.sc... [bsky, 4 points, 0 comments]

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