Tackle those plastic cigarette filters
Eleven organisations united in the Plastic Peuken Collectief (Plastic Cigarette Butt Collective) are taking to the streets on Saturday to pick up cigarette butts in Arnhem, The Hague, Alkmaar, Apeldoorn, De Bilt, Purmerend, Echt-Susteren, Leeuwarden, Venlo, Tilburg, Utrecht and Amsterdam. The campaign is running under the hashtag #nofilterplease. After all, cigarette filters do not biodegrade. The vast majority of filters are made [...]
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Eleven organisations united in the Plastic Peuken Collectief (Plastic Cigarette Butt Collective) are taking to the streets on Saturday to sweep up cigarette butts in Arnhem, The Hague, Alkmaar, Apeldoorn, De Bilt, Purmerend, Echt-Susteren, Leeuwarden, Venlo, Tilburg, Utrecht and Amsterdam. The campaign runs under the hashtag #nofilterplease.
After all, cigarette butt filters do not disappear. The lion's share of filters is made from cellulose acetate, which is to say plastic. Littered cigarette butts therefore contribute significantly to plastic pollution. This is not widely known, not even among smokers. The butts also lead to higher clean-up costs for municipalities and deface our living environment.
“In the discussion around plastic pollution, cigarette butts are hardly mentioned, even though this is one of the most common forms of pollution. Smokers also have the right to know that there is plastic in a cigarette filter,” says Karl Beerenfenger of By the Ocean we Unite, one of the initiators of the collective.
This year, the collective is campaigning under the hashtag #nofilterplease. “Communication campaigns do not solve the problem. We must tackle the product itself. We want to get rid of the plastic cigarette filter that only serves as a marketing tool to sell more cigarettes. That is not good for the environment and also not good for health. We are therefore asking the government to ban cigarette filters containing harmful plastics and harmful chemical substances, whether in a European context or not,” says Beerenfenger.
Article 8 of the European Single Use Plastics Directive (SUPD) provides that tobacco manufacturers must pay the clean-up costs for cigarette butts with plastic filters. Rob Buurman, director of Recycling Netwerk Benelux, says: “We ask the Dutch government to monitor the number of cigarette butts closely, and to set a cost per cigarette butt, so that producers are motivated to reduce cigarette butts in litter. As an incentive, we propose that a legal target of -70% cigarette butts in the environment by the end of 2023 be included.”
Since 2019, the following organisations have joined forces in the Plastic Peuken Collectief to tackle littered cigarette butts: By the Ocean we Unite, Seavents, Sea Going Green, Save Your Butt, Recycling Netwerk Benelux, Ecomondo, Peukenmeisje, The Bamboo Brush Society, Smyle, Plastic Soup Surfer and Straw by Straw. Last year, the Plastic Peuken Collectief also took to the streets and picked up 51,000 cigarette butts in less than three hours.
Starting point of the campaign
Saturday 5 September 1:00 pm De Ruyterkade 10, Amsterdam (behind CS).
Then we will walk from CS to Dam Square.
End: 4:45 pm Dam Square
Contact for interviews
Event/general public awareness/facts on littered cigarette butts
Karl Beerenfenger
Co-founder By The Ocean We Unite
Government/industry
Rob Buurman
Director Recycling Netwerk Benelux
Online: https://www.facebook.com/events/amsterdam-centraal-station/plastic-peukmeuk-2020/604808066822346/
Photo credits: Tomas Grootveld
