Cigarette filters are the most littered item on earth. Here in the UK, they make up around two-thirds of all litter, despite only 12% of people smoking. What steps need to be taken to protect the planet?
Anyone who has ever joined a litter pick (and trust me, I’ve done a few in my time) will tell you that filters are everywhere. They wash into our waterways when it rains, poison our rivers, and blight our beaches and green spaces.
Most cigarette filters are made of single use plastic and yet a growing campaign is trying to convince us that biodegradable filters are the solution. They are not.
These so-called biodegradable eco-filters still absorb thousands of harmful chemicals released during smoking – arsenic, lead, nicotine, and more – which then leach into the environment. In fact, they are just as poisonous to marine and freshwater life as plastic ones. Worse still, labelling them as ‘biodegradable’ risks encouraging more littering by giving smokers the false impression that they pose no risk to the environment.
Biodegradable filters only decompose in very particular circumstances, and for filters, it takes at least two years for that process to happen, whilst damaging the environment. It will therefore come as no surprise that the campaign behind these biodegradable filters is ‘backed’ by Greenbutts, a manufacturer of ‘biodegradable’ filters, whose leadership team has close ties to the tobacco industry.
Profits for companies like this depend on the continued consumption of tobacco. They also provide the tobacco industry with an opportunity to refresh their reputation (aka ‘greenwashing’) and be seen as ecologically conscious and socially responsible.
So, what is the alternative?
Despite false public perceptions, filters have no health benefits. They were developed by the tobacco industry in the 1960s as a response to growing public concern over the link between smoking and lung cancer. An internal note from tobacco manufacturer, Phillip Morris, states that they are “an effective advertising gimmick”.
Filters were, in fact, deliberately developed to turn from white to brown, to increase the perception of a ‘filtering’ effect of harmful substances. In reality, smokers simply inhale more deeply to draw in smoke through the cigarette butt and even further into their lungs.
The more recent trend of white filter tips (compared with the older orange ones) reinforces this message with consumers. Young people, in particular, perceive cigarette packs with references to filters as significantly less harmful than packs without those references.
We banned single-use plastic straws to save sea turtles – now is the time we did the same for cigarette filters to protect both people and the planet. For this to be achievable, it will take public education. Polling from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) shows that only one in four UK adults realises that filters don’t protect smokers. That means three quarters of people still believe the tobacco’s industry’s biggest lie – i.e. the ‘filter fraud’.
A complete ban on all filters, not just those containing single use plastics, would rid the UK of its most littered item, helping clean up our beaches and waterways, and strip away decades of industry deceit that has kept people addicted to smoking under false pretences.
If we’re serious about building a cleaner, healthier future, then banning cigarette filters isn’t radical – it’s common sense.
