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

journal contribution
posted on 2023-09-01, 15:11 authored by Dannielle S Green, Bethanie Carney Almroth, Rebecca Altman, Melanie Bergmann, Sedat Gündoğdu, Anish Kumar Warrier, Bas Boots, Tony R Walker, Anja Krieger, Kristian Syberg
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.

History

Refereed

  • Yes

Volume

865

Publication title

Science of the Total Environment

ISSN

1879-1026

Publisher

Elsevier

File version

  • Accepted version

Language

  • eng

Legacy posted date

2023-01-13

Legacy creation date

2023-01-13

Legacy Faculty/School/Department

Faculty of Science & Engineering

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