Cigarette filters: persistent pollution, renewed call for their ban

As World No Tobacco Day approaches and international negotiations on a binding treaty against pollution are underway, several civil society organizations, including Surfrider Foundation,[1], are making a clear demand for a ban on cigarette filters. These filters represent a major source of plastic pollution and have no proven benefit to public health. Anti-tobacco groups, including the National Committee Against Smoking, have supported this demand for several years.

Cigarette filters, a major source of toxic plastic pollution

Cigarette filters are composed primarily of cellulose acetate, a petroleum-based plastic that does not biodegrade. Discarded en masse into the environment, they are among the most common types of litter found on beaches, streets, and waterways. In France alone, it is estimated that tens of billions of cigarette butts are discarded into the environment each year, with a considerable ecological impact.

Filters are often mistakenly perceived as a tool for reducing the risks associated with smoking. In reality, scientific studies converge to affirm that they do not reduce the toxicity of cigarettes or the risks for smokers. Worse still, they can induce deeper inhalation, increasing exposure to toxic substances contained in smoke and the filter itself. Once discarded, filters release harmful substances—including heavy metals, hydrocarbons, and nicotine—into the natural environment. Their large-scale collection remains very limited, and their recycling, complex and marginal, is not a viable solution.

A counterproductive measure carried out by the City of Paris in partnership with industry

As part of its plan to combat cigarette butt pollution, the City of Paris recently announced the distribution of 400,000 pocket ashtrays and the installation of extinguishers on street bins.[2]. This initiative, although presented as an environmental prevention action, is carried out in partnership with Alcome, the eco-organization financed and managed by tobacco manufacturers within the framework of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). The relevance of this type of device is disputed. On the one hand, pocket ashtrays help to strengthen the social acceptability of smoking, by offering smokers a way to smoke "cleanly", including in contexts where tobacco consumption could be socially or regulatoryly frowned upon, such as around schools, in parks or near public buildings. By reducing the visibility of pollution generated by cigarette butts, these devices help to minimize the perception of environmental and health nuisances linked to tobacco. Scientific literature also highlights that the presence of ashtrays in public spaces is associated with an increase in the number of active smokers nearby and constitutes a factor in the normalization of smoking. By focusing action on individual waste management, this type of measure diverts attention from necessary structural solutions, including banning filters as single-use plastics or developing smoke-free areas. These measures effectively eliminate waste at source. Finally, the partnership with an eco-organization run by the tobacco industry raises a problem of coherence and credibility of public policies, by entrusting economic actors who are the source of the pollution with the task of managing its effects.[3]The logic of Extended Producer Responsibility cannot in fact be applied to the tobacco sector, whose interests are irreconcilable with those of environmental and human health.

A long-standing commitment from public health stakeholders

Cigarette filters are described by several public health organizations as unnecessary single-use plastics that serve no protective function. The National Committee Against Tobacco Use, a member of the international Stop Tobacco Pollution Alliance (STPA), has been making this demand for several years as part of the international negotiations on the plastics treaty. The goal is to ban the manufacture and sale of cigarette filters, like other banned single-use plastic products. The STPA will participate in the fifth and final negotiation session of the plastics treaty, scheduled for Geneva from August 5 to 14, 2025, to continue advocating for this measure with state delegations and international bodies.

©Generation Without Tobacco

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[1] Press release, Surfrider calls for ban on cigarette filters, Surfrider, published May 22, 2025, accessed May 22, 2025

[2] Philippe Mirkovic, Cigarette butts: pocket ashtrays, extinguishers... Paris's measures to combat this scourge, Ouest France, published May 20, 2025, consulted May 22, 2025

[3] Tobacco-free generation, Mégothon: a citizen mobilization exploited by the tobacco industry, published May 20, 2025, accessed May 22, 2025