Pocket ashtrays: false environmental solution, real marketing tool

In France, the eco-organization Alcome was approved in August 2021 by the Ministry of Ecological Transition with the aim of setting up a recovery sector for the 23.3 billion cigarette butts thrown away annually on public roads. This eco-organization, established as part of the Anti-waste law for a circular economy (AGEC law), is an emanation of the main players in the tobacco sector in France, and in fact contradicts the guiding principles of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (CCLAT). Beyond this observation, Alcome's specifications provide for the distribution of pocket ashtrays, as tools intended to combat "cigarette butts [...] improperly thrown in public spaces"[1]. However, studies conducted on the subject show that these types of operations are counterproductive, both in terms of reducing waste and reducing smoking. In reality, the distribution of pocket ashtrays is more like an attempt by manufacturers to promote and normalize smoking and its industry.

 

1. Cigarette butts, an environmental and health disaster

Cigarette butts, a major environmental problem

Every year, around 4,500 billion cigarettes are thrown into the environment after consumption, or more than a million tonnes of cigarette butts. Cigarette butts, by far the most collected waste in campaigns to clean up natural and urban areas, are particularly harmful to the environment.[2]. Indeed, cigarette butts are essentially composed of a filter made of cellulose acetate, a photodegradable but non-biodegradable material. These cigarette butts, after smoking, contain hundreds of chemical elements, including heavy metals, which contribute massively to the lasting pollution of fauna, flora, waterways, seas and oceans.[3]. For the same reason, filters sold as "biodegradable" are only biodegradable before consumption. Given their high level of toxicity, there is currently no sustainable recycling solution for this waste: even when they are thrown into trash cans, cigarette butts are incinerated. The collection, collection and treatment of the 20 to 25,000 tons of cigarette butts[4] thrown away annually in France also constitute a considerable burden for the public community.

Filters: a lack of health justification

The filter, which makes up the majority of a cigarette butt, is an innovation of the tobacco industry. The invention of the filter corresponds to three imperatives for manufacturers, far removed from any concern for the health of their consumers. On the one hand, cigarette filters were initially developed as a marketing tool, intended to avoid direct contact between tobacco and the smoker's mouth, considered unpleasant for the latter. On the other hand, these filters were put in place for reasons of economy, given the fact that cellulose acetate is lighter and less expensive than tobacco. Above all, the generalization of the filter in tobacco products from the 1950s was initially intended to respond to the initial concerns of smokers regarding the dangers that their consumption represented for their health. This innovation, presented by manufacturers as a risk reduction tool, serves more to reduce the perception of danger for consumers[5], and thus dissuade them from reducing or stopping their smoking. As a result, the primary purpose of the filter is to maintain the smoking norm, thus leading to serious consequences in terms of public health.

Furthermore, scientific literature shows that filters are associated with an increase in risks[6] : these allow smokers to take deeper and longer puffs, while the toxic fibers present at the cut end of the filter are inhaled and ingested by smokers. Consequently, the widespread use of filters on cigarettes has contributed to the rise in pulmonary adenocarcinoma, a malignant lung tumor that is responsible for nearly 30% of lung cancers[7]. For this reason, the World Health Organization, on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day, dedicated to environmental issues, recommends the removal of filters in tobacco products.[8].

 

2. A regulatory risk and a marketing opportunity for the tobacco industry

Internal tobacco industry documents show that the industry became interested in the issue of cigarette butt management as early as the 1970s, for three main reasons.

Maintaining the social acceptability of smoking

First, a 1970 note from the Tobacco Institute warned that tobacco product waste in public spaces, as a clear nuisance, in the same way as passive smoking, could contribute to conveying a negative image of smokers and contribute to tainting the social acceptability of smoking.[9]. A few years later, the tobacco industry saw the issue of cigarette butts as an entry point for anti-smoking groups to attack tobacco products. Finally, research by Philip Morris corroborated these claims, mentioning that the litter associated with smoking could tip non-smokers from “neutral” to “negative”, thereby swell the ranks of the fight against smoking. As a result, the tobacco industry has sought to seize the issue of cigarette butts in order to prevent smoking from being considered by public opinion as an environmental issue as well as a public health problem, and thus to avoid a junction between environmental groups and health actors.

Avoid restrictive regulations

In the 1990s, regulations aimed at combating pollution associated with waste multiplied, leading the tobacco industry to fear that its products could be subject to stricter controls. Philip Morris internal documents show that the manufacturer simultaneously sought to avoid regulations that could result in the implementation of environmental taxes, regulations relating to the degradability of cigarettes, or the establishment of non-smoking areas, such as in parks or on beaches, in order to avoid the proliferation of waste in natural areas.

Externalizing environmental costs

The tobacco industry has also sought to seize the issue of cigarette butts in order to avoid the implementation of extended producer responsibility, following the polluter-pays principle. As a manufacturer, the tobacco industry is primarily responsible for the proliferation of waste, initially from its factories. However, according to internal industry documents, the industry believes that "the responsibility for proper disposal lies with the user of the product", thus placing the responsibility for waste solely on the consumer. By reversing responsibility, the tobacco industry is thus seeking to avoid transferring the cost of managing cigarette butts from communities to manufacturers.

 

3. Pocket ashtrays, a partial and counterproductive solution

A vector for promoting and maintaining the tobacco epidemic

Although it is not the only one, one of the proposals put forward by the tobacco industry to address the issue of cigarette butts has been to distribute free pocket ashtrays (disposable) since the early 1990s. To support these initiatives, environmental groups, sponsored by the industry, have claimed that these pocket ashtrays contribute to reducing the presence of cigarette butts in public spaces. However, as several scientific articles point out, no study has corroborated such a claim.[10]. On the contrary, published studies on the subject show that the distribution of pocket ashtrays by the tobacco industry is problematic on several levels.

A vector for normalizing and promoting the act of smoking

First, it allows the act of smoking to be revalued for the smoker, by reassuring the latter that he can continue his consumption, while conveying the illusion of remaining in line with possible ecological considerations. The manufacturer RJ Reynolds has been associated since 1993 in the United States with a campaign called Keep American Beautiful (KAB), which resulted in the distribution of over a million pocket ashtrays, these new devices sought to "reduce some of the guilt associated with smoking" that smokers may feel. Similarly, by associating smoking with concern for the environment, pocket ashtrays aim to restore a positive social image of smoking, including among non-smokers. By revaluing the act of smoking, pocket ashtrays thus help to maintain tobacco consumption, thereby going against environmental objectives of reducing toxic waste.

An incentive and facilitating factor for tobacco consumption

With these pocket ashtrays, smokers are further discouraged from reducing or quitting smoking as this new tool allows them to consume on the go. As a result, the pocket ashtray can be seen as an incentive, particularly in areas where smoking would have seemed less natural, such as in protected or even non-smoking areas. In July 2022, the Confédération des buralistes communicated its support for French firefighters during periods of forest fires linked to heatwaves by distributing 100,000 pocket ashtrays.[11], thus establishing tobacco consumption as a norm, while it is strictly prohibited in forest areas, precisely because of the increased risk of fires that it entails.

A tool for a social responsibility image strategy

Finally, pocket ashtrays have also been used by the tobacco industry as a tool to promote its own business. First, the first pocket ashtrays, in the colors and logos of the manufacturers' brands, were a direct promotional medium. While these advertising operations are now banned, particularly in France, pocket ashtrays, even when they are free of any reference to a tobacco brand, aim to improve the image of manufacturers among consumers and public decision-makers. Thus, while manufacturers have a major responsibility for cigarette butt pollution, pocket ashtrays allow them to be established as responsible companies, concerned with preserving the environment.

This strategy is also part of a more general attempt by the tobacco industry at self-rehabilitation, following the health scandals that have lastingly tarnished its image among political leaders. By seeking to assert its social responsibility, the industry aims to promote a partnership relationship with public authorities, and thus maximize its influence in the development of public policies, in total opposition to one of the provisions of the WHO treaty, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, in its article 5.3.

The issue of waste production avoided by manufacturers

The pocket ashtray does not solve the problem of cigarette butts, which, due to their toxicity, are not recyclable waste. Furthermore, the distribution of these ashtrays, generally made of plastic, can even constitute an additional problem, since they can also be thrown into nature. As mentioned above, the solutions proposed by the tobacco industry aim first to evade manufacturers' responsibility for environmental pollution. However, as the scientific literature highlights, the most effective way to reduce the number of cigarette butts in public spaces is to reduce tobacco consumption. This statement also echoes the spirit of the European directive on single-use plastics (SUP) of 2019, but also its transposition in France (AGEC law), both of which are part of an objective of preventing waste production, responding to the following imperative: "the best waste is that which is not produced".

Keywords: Alcome, disposable ashtrays, portable ashtrays, CSR, marketing, environment, cigarette butts, pollution, ecology Photo credit: Actu.fr

©Generation Without Tobacco

FT

---

[1] Alcome, home page, (accessed 07/21/2022) [2] Report - Tobacco: poisoning our planet, World Health Organization, published May 29, 2022, accessed August 22, 2022 [3] Slaughter E, Gersberg RM, Watanabe K, et al, Toxicity of cigarette butts, and their chemical components, to marine and freshwater fish, Tobacco Control 2011;20:i25-i29. [4] Ministry of Ecological Transition, Smoking kills, throwing a cigarette butt pollutes, 03/2020, (accessed 07/21/2022) [5] Kenkel D, Chen L. Consumer information and tobacco use. In: Jha P, Chaloupka FJ, eds. Tobacco control in developing countries. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999:177–214. [6] Evans-Reeves K, Lauber K, Hiscock R, The 'filter fraud' persists: the tobacco industry is still using filters to suggest lower health risks while destroying the environment, Tobacco Control Published Online First: 26 April 2021. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2020-056245 [7] Min-Ae Song, Neal L Benowitz, Micah Berman, Theodore M Brasky, K Michael Cummings, Dorothy K Hatsukami, Catalin Marian, Richard O'Connor, Vaughan W Rees, Casper Woroszylo, Peter G Shields, Cigarette Filter Ventilation and its Relationship to Increasing Rates of Lung Adenocarcinoma, JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Volume 109, Issue 12, December 2017, djx075, https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djx075 [8] WHO, World No Tobacco Day 2022, (accessed 07/21/2022) [9] Smith EA, McDaniel PA, Covering their butts: responses to the cigarette litter problem, Tobacco Control 2011;20:100-106. [10] Smith EA, Novotny TE, Whose butt is it? tobacco industry research about smokers and cigarette butt waste, Tobacco Control 2011;20:i2-i9. [11] Tell them, Summer items: the pocket ashtray against the scourge of cigarette butts, 07/14/2022, (accessed 07/21/2022)