In an article written for Recycling Magazine, the No Plastic Filter! organization said that today (May 13) “marks the launch of the international No Plastic Filter campaign, uniting voices across the planet for a ban on plastic cigarette filters.” It further said, “A growing coalition of citizens, businesses, institutions, scientists, NGOs and local authorities worldwide is calling on policymakers to take action.”
The No Plastic Filter-campaign is an initiative by Dutch NGO Fair Resource Foundation, which is part of the Dutch Plastic Cigarette Butt Collective.
“Plastic cigarette filters are the single most common form of plastic pollution globally,” the article said. “It is estimated that billions of filters end up in the environment every day.”
“Even if 90% of used cigarette filters would be discarded in a bin, it would still be a massive environmental problem,” campaign leader Karl Beerenfenger said. “That’s why awareness raising and cleanups are not a solution, although the tobacco industry likes to place responsibility on smokers by financing those activities.’’
The article claims cigarette filters are useless, merely “marketing tricks inserted by tobacco companies to placate health concerns,” and that the World Health Organization calls cigarette filters ‘’problematic and avoidable plastic’’ and calls on governments worldwide to ban all filters. The No Plastic Filter campaign said it aims at the Global Plastics Treaty, which is currently being negotiated by the United Nations, and the Single-Use Plastics Directive of the European Union.
