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

Dannielle S. Green; Bethanie Carney Almroth; Rebecca Altman; Melanie Bergmann; Sedat Gündoğdu; Anish Kumar Warrier; Bas Boots; Tony R. Walker; Anja Krieger; Kristian Syberg

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.161256

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

Dannielle S. Green
, Bethanie Carney Almroth
, Rebecca Altman
, Melanie Bergmann
, Sedat Gündoğdu
, Anish Kumar Warrier
, Bas Boots
, Tony R. Walker
, Anja Krieger
, Kristian Syberg^*

^*Corresponding author

Department of Science and Environment

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

36 Citations (Scopus)

261 Downloads (Pure)

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.

Original language	English
Article number	161256
Journal	Science of the Total Environment
Volume	865
ISSN	0048-9697
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.161256
Publication status	Published - 20 Mar 2023

Keywords

Cellulose acetate
Cigarette filters
Ecological risk
Planetary boundaries
Plastics treaty
Single-use plastics

Access to Document

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.161256Licence: CC BY

Time to kick the butt of the most common litter item in the world: Ban cigarette filtersFinal published version, 358 KBLicence: CC BY

Plastic Research Team
Syberg, K. (Project manager), Oturai, N. G. (Project participant), Ramos, T. M. (Project participant), Sandgaard, M. H. (Project participant), Hooge, A. (Project participant), Lorenz, C. (Project participant), Ndwiga, J. R. (Project participant), Carlson, C. R. (Project participant), Ugwu Hernández, K. (Project participant), Iordachescu, L. (Project participant) & Palm, E. (Project participant)
01/04/2021 → …
Project: Research

Citation Styles

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

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.",

keywords = "Cellulose acetate, Cigarette filters, Ecological risk, Planetary boundaries, Plastics treaty, Single-use plastics, Cellulose acetate, Cigarette filters, Ecological risk, Planetary boundaries, Plastics treaty, Single-use plastics",

author = "Green, \{Dannielle S.\} and Almroth, \{Bethanie Carney\} and Rebecca Altman and Melanie Bergmann and Sedat G{\"u}ndoğdu and Warrier, \{Anish Kumar\} and Bas Boots and Walker, \{Tony R.\} and Anja Krieger and Kristian Syberg",

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doi = "10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.161256",

language = "English",

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T1 - Time to kick the butt of the most common litter item in the world

T2 - Ban cigarette filters

AU - Green, Dannielle S.

AU - Almroth, Bethanie Carney

AU - Altman, Rebecca

AU - Bergmann, Melanie

AU - Gündoğdu, Sedat

AU - Warrier, Anish Kumar

AU - Boots, Bas

AU - Walker, Tony R.

AU - Krieger, Anja

AU - Syberg, Kristian

PY - 2023/3/20

Y1 - 2023/3/20

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - Cellulose acetate

KW - Cigarette filters

KW - Ecological risk

KW - Planetary boundaries

KW - Plastics treaty

KW - Single-use plastics

KW - Cellulose acetate

KW - Cigarette filters

KW - Ecological risk

KW - Planetary boundaries

KW - Plastics treaty

KW - Single-use plastics

U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.161256

DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.161256

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 36587695

AN - SCOPUS:85145650840

SN - 0048-9697

VL - 865

JO - Science of the Total Environment

JF - Science of the Total Environment

M1 - 161256

ER -

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

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Projects

Plastic Research Team

Citation Styles