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

Cigarette filters offer no public health benefits, are single-use plastics and the most common source of plastic (cellulose acetate) pollution. Filters are routinely littered, accounting 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.