No Plastic Filter: global call to ban plastic cigarette filters

Today marks the launch of the international campaign No Plastic Filter: a global call for a ban on plastic cigarette filters. At the heart of the campaign is the website www.noplasticfilter.org, where citizens, businesses, institutions, scientists, NGOs, and local authorities come together in a joint call for a ban on plastic cigarette butts. Fair Resource Foundation conceived and coordinates the campaign.

Karl Beerenfenger

13 May 2025

Today marks the launch of the international campaign No Plastic Filter: a global call for a ban on plastic cigarette filters. Central to the campaign is the website www.noplasticfilter.org, where citizens, businesses, institutions, scientists, NGOs, and local authorities come together for a joint call to ban plastic cigarette butts. Fair Resource Foundation conceived and coordinates the campaign. Almost all cigarette filters are made of plastic. Once a cigarette is smoked and discarded, the filter breaks down into microplastics and releases thousands of toxic chemicals such as pesticides, arsenic, and heavy metals into the environment. Plastic cigarette filters are found everywhere: on playgrounds, outside hospitals, on beaches, in parks, in rivers, and oceans. 100,000 filters per second Plastic cigarette filters are the most common form of plastic pollution worldwide. It is estimated that billions of filters enter the environment daily. "Just think about it: that is more than 100,000 filters per second. And as far as we know, they are never completely broken down," says campaign leader Karl Beerenfenger of Fair Resource Foundation. He continues: "Even if 90% of used cigarette filters ended up in the dustbin, the other 10% would still pose a huge environmental problem. That is why awareness and clean-up actions are not a solution, although the tobacco industry likes to put the responsibility on smokers by funding these activities." Many people assume that filters are better for your health. The opposite is true. Instead of reducing the health risks of smoking, they can actually worsen them. Yogi Hendlin, public health scientist at Erasmus University Rotterdam, says: "The tobacco industry knowingly caused massive pollution and misled smokers when it introduced the plastic cigarette filter in the 1950s. It is well documented that smokers take deeper drags to 'compensate' for the filters. The filter was and is a useless product and merely a marketing gimmick to ease health concerns without actually reducing harm." The World Health Organization (WHO) calls cigarette filters "problematic and avoidable plastic" and calls on governments worldwide to ban all filters. Ban the plastic filter The solution is simple: policy makers worldwide must take action now and ban the plastic filter. Current developments in various legislative processes around the world offer excellent opportunities to do so. The No Plastic Filter campaign focuses on the United Nations Global Plastics Treaty and the European Union's Single-Use Plastics Directive. The No Plastic Filter campaign gathers and creates global support for a ban on plastic cigarette filters by sharing scientific knowledge about the impact of filters, supporting activities such as the global No Butts Day, and drafting and distributing manifestos. This should inspire politicians and policy makers worldwide to work towards a ban. People and organisations across the globe are invited to endorse the call and participate in activities via the campaign website. Karl Beerenfenger of Fair Resource Foundation concludes: "The unfiltered truth is that we are all being fooled. Politicians and policy makers have the opportunity to make history by ridding the world of this massive and unnecessary form of toxic pollution." Call to action Do you also want a ban on plastic cigarette filters? Go to www.noplasticfilter.org and sign the petition. Related tags More on this topic

Today marks the launch of the international campaign No Plastic Filter: a global call for a ban on plastic cigarette filters. Central to the campaign is the website www.noplasticfilter.org, where citizens, businesses, institutions, scientists, NGOs, and local authorities come together for a joint call to ban plastic cigarette butts. Fair Resource Foundation conceived and coordinates the campaign.

Almost all cigarette filters are made of plastic. Once a cigarette is smoked and discarded, the filter breaks down into microplastics and releases thousands of toxic chemicals such as pesticides, arsenic, and heavy metals into the environment. Plastic cigarette filters are found everywhere: on playgrounds, outside hospitals, on beaches, in parks, in rivers, and oceans.

100,000 filters per second

Plastic cigarette filters are the most common form of plastic pollution worldwide. It is estimated that billions of filters enter the environment daily. "Just think about it: that is more than 100,000 filters per second. And as far as we know, they are never completely broken down," says campaign leader Karl Beerenfenger of Fair Resource Foundation. He continues: "Even if 90% of used cigarette filters ended up in the dustbin, the other 10% would still pose a huge environmental problem. That is why awareness and clean-up actions are not a solution, although the tobacco industry likes to put the responsibility on smokers by funding these activities."

Many people assume that filters are better for your health. The opposite is true. Instead of reducing the health risks of smoking, they can actually worsen them. Yogi Hendlin, public health scientist at Erasmus University Rotterdam, says: "The tobacco industry knowingly caused massive pollution and misled smokers when it introduced the plastic cigarette filter in the 1950s. It is well documented that smokers take deeper drags to 'compensate' for the filters. The filter was and is a useless product and merely a marketing gimmick to ease health concerns without actually reducing harm." The World Health Organization (WHO) calls cigarette filters "problematic and avoidable plastic" and calls on governments worldwide to ban all filters.

Ban the plastic filter

The solution is simple: policy makers worldwide must take action now and ban the plastic filter. Current developments in various legislative processes around the world offer excellent opportunities to do so. The No Plastic Filter campaign focuses on the Global Plastics Treaty of the United Nations and the Single-Use Plastics Directive of the European Union.

The No Plastic Filter campaign gathers and creates global support for a ban on plastic cigarette filters by sharing scientific knowledge about the impact of filters, supporting activities such as the global No Butts Day, and drafting and distributing manifestos. This should inspire politicians and policy makers worldwide to work towards a ban. People and organisations across the globe are invited to endorse the call and participate in activities via the campaign website.

Karl Beerenfenger of Fair Resource Foundation concludes: "The unfiltered truth is that we are all being fooled. Politicians and policy makers have the opportunity to make history by ridding the world of this massive and unnecessary form of toxic pollution."