Editor

Welsh charity ASH Wales has joined forces with the Marine Conservation Society and Keep Wales Tidy to call for a ban on plastic cigarette filters in Wales, alongside items such as plastic straws and plastic cotton bud stems.

The Welsh Government launched its Reducing Single Use Plastic consultation in July, with proposals to create a law banning the sale of single use plastic items. However, cigarette butts weren’t included in the list of items that would be banned.

Cigarettes are the most common form of litter in Wales and pose a huge environmental risk, often ending up in waterways and eventually the ocean after being washed down drains. Each cigarette butt releases thousands of chemicals and microplastics into the environment and takes up to 14 years to degrade.

As well as being made of plastic the filters contain a cocktail of lethal chemicals including arsenic, lead and nicotine that endanger the marine animals that often mistake the filters for food. Scientific studies have shown that one cigarette butt left to soak for 96 hours will kill half the fish exposed to it.

In a study carried out by Keep Wales Tidy in 2018, cigarette butts were found on 80.3 per cent of streets in Wales, making them the most common form of litter in the country.

Despite the impact they have on the environment they are not widely recognised as being part of the plastic problem with less than half of smokers aware that they contain plastic, according to a survey by Keep Britain Tidy.

Cigarette butts are a big part of the plastic pollution problem and should be treated as single use plastic items in exactly the same way as straws, balloon sticks or takeaway coffee cups.We have urged Welsh Government to include plastic cigarette filters in the list of items subject to regulatory action in Wales.

Suzanne Cass CEO of ASH Wales

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