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UN Treaty Must Ban Cigarette Filters – Global Health and Environmental Groups Urge Action
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – AUGUST 5, 2025 – Starting today, governments from around the world are meeting in Geneva for the final round of negotiations (INC5.2) for a new international treaty to tackle plastic pollution. Among the sources of plastic pollution under discussion, cigarette butts are a major but often overlooked and very toxic contributor. ASH joins AT Schweiz (Swiss Association for Tobacco Control), Stop2Drop, Stop Tobacco Pollution Alliance, and other civil society organizations in calling for a global ban on cigarette filters.
“Failure to ban the world’s most pervasive form of plastic pollution, which is attached to the world’s deadliest consumer product, would signal that the Negotiating Committee is not serious about achieving its mandate,” said ASH Executive Director Laurent Huber who is attending INC5.2 this week.
The world is negotiating – cigarette filters must not be forgotten.
As countries gather at the United Nations in Geneva from August 5-14, 2025, to finalize the global plastics treaty, plastic cigarette filters must be explicitly addressed. A failure to include cigarette filters would leave one of the most pervasive single-use plastics untouched.
Every year, an estimated 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are littered around the world. Despite their small size, these filters have a massive environmental footprint. They are made of cellulose acetate, a plastic that breaks down slowly into harmful microplastics. Cigarette butts also contain over 7,000 chemicals—including nicotine and toxic heavy metals—that can leach into soil and waterways, harming ecosystems and wildlife.
Systematic deception: Why cigarette filters are harmful to health
Cigarette filters were introduced by the tobacco industry in the 1950s to ease public fears about lung cancer. However, they are not only ineffective at protecting health—they also cause environmental harm. Experts warn that cigarette filters create a false sense of security. They encourage deeper inhalation and increase the absorption of toxic substances into the lungs.
Aligning with the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC)
Any global plastics treaty must be aligned with the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which explicitly calls for action on the environmental harms of tobacco products and protection from tobacco industry interference. Cigarette filters should not simply be treated as waste—these are tobacco product components with proven environmental and health risks.
Policymakers must act – Three key demands
ASH joins AT Schweiz (Swiss Association for Tobacco Control), Stop2Drop, Stop Tobacco Pollution Alliance, and more civil society organizations in calling for strong commitments at INC-5.2, including:
1. Polluter pays principle: Tobacco manufacturers must be held financially responsible for filter pollution.
2. No greenwashing: The plastics treaty should include an explicit reference to the WHO FCTC, reject any tobacco industry influence, and ensure consistent alignment between environmental and public health policies.
3. Independent public awareness and enforcement: Governments must launch tobacco industry-free public awareness campaigns on tobacco product waste.
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ACTION ON SMOKING AND HEALTH
Founded in 1967, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) is America’s oldest anti-tobacco organization, dedicated to a world with ZERO tobacco deaths. Because tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death worldwide, ASH supports bold solutions proportionate to the magnitude of the problem. https://ash.org
Key Sources
Briefing Paper for INC 5.2, Stop Tobacco Pollution Alliance: https://ggtc.world/knowledge/environment-sustainability-and-human-rights/cigarette-filters-in-the-global-plastics-treaty. (14 July 2025)
Series of articles: Plastic and tobacco, AT Switzerland (2024): https://www.at-schweiz.ch/de/wissen/nachhaltigkeit/plastik-tabak/.
The Swiss Association for Tobacco Control has taken advantage of the negotiations on an international convention aimed at reducing plastic pollution to publish a series of six articles on the theme of “Plastic and tobacco…”
Haein Choi, Jari Hanhimaki, Hanna Pacht (2025): The Hidden Plastic Crisis of Tobaccos. Can One Smoke Without Polluting? https://www.at-schweiz.ch/documents/1099/AT_Research_Series_No._8_The_Hidden_Plastic_Crisis_June2025.pdf.
According to the WHO, between 340 and 680 million kilograms of cigarette butts end up in the environment worldwide each year. (“Tobacco and its environmental impact: an overview,“ WHO, 2017).
Cigarette butts contain more than 7,000 chemicals, including heavy metals and nicotine. (“Tobacco and its environmental impact: an overview”, WHO, 2017).
Cigarette filters are a marketing ploy dating back to the 1950s. (“The ‘filter fraud’ persists: the tobacco industry is still using filters to suggest lower health risks while destroying the environment,” Evans-Reeves, Lauber, Hiscock, 2021).
Link to the campaign website, “Ban all cigarette filters, not just plastic ones”: https://ban-all-filters-5zoo0x5.gamma.site/.