Spain Will Force Tobacco Companies To Pay To Clean Up Cigarette Butts
Spain News
Published: 04 January 2023 14:31 CET
Tobacco companies will be forced to clean up millions of cigarette butts under new radical plans by the Spanish government.
Each year, millions of cigarette ends are discarded on Spain’s streets and beaches. However, from Friday, January 6, tobacco firms will have to foot the bill to clean them up under new environmental regulations set out by the government.
The package of environmental measures also includes a ban on single-use plastic cutlery and plates, polystyrene cups, plastic straws, cotton buds, and plastic food packaging.
The plans are a part of a European Union directive that will limit the use of single-use plastics and oblige tobacco firms to take responsibility for the mess they create.
Furthermore, cigarette manufacturers will also have to educate their customers on the issue of discarding their butts in public places and the impact it has on the environment. However, it is not clear at this time how they plan to implement this.
According to one Catalan study, the cost to tobacco firms could reach 1 billion euros which will most likely be passed on to smokers in the form of a hike in the cost of a pack of cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Earlier in the year, the Catalan government proposed a scheme where citizens could be redeemed €0.20 for every cigarette butt returned, with the move expected to add around €4 to a pack of 20 which currently retails at around €5.
Isaac Peraire, head of the Catalan waste agency told El Periódico earlier this week, “We want to put a stop to the present situation where around 70% of cigarette butts end up either on the ground or in the sea.”
According to an Ocean Conservancy NGO, cigarette butts take around 10 years to decompose. It is estimated that around 5 billion make their way into our oceans each year, more than plastic bags and bottles.
In an attempt to stop this, around 500 Spanish beaches have been declared smoke-free zones including in Barcelona where in 2022, smoking was banned on all of its 10 beaches.
Latest government figures show that around one in five Spaniards (22%) smoke compared to the EU average of 18.4%. Men are the biggest users of tobacco products, 23.3% compared to 16.4% of women.
Source
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/03/tobacco-companies-cleaning-up-cigarette-butts-spain
https://spanishnewstoday.com/tobacco-companies-in-spain-forced-to-foot-the-bill-for-cleaning-up-cigarette-butts_1960539-a.html
