Diffused in Italy from the sixties of the last century to give a false sense of protection to those who smoked, the cigarette filters have since contributed to polluting (unnecessarily) the environment: it is estimated that every year 4.5 billion of butts – including filters – which are transformed into 800,000 tons of microplastics are thrown.
As a article denounces The Conversationin addition to not protecting at all from the risk of tumors, the filters could even exacerbate it, making smoking less strong and facilitating its deep inhalation.
The environmental problem. Made of cellulose acetate, the filters are not biodegradable and, once thrown, they turn into microplastics that pollute rivers and oceans. Despite some advertised tobacco companies now “ecological” filters, this is also a marketing move and not a real help for the environment: according to what is detected by a 2020 study, these Ecofilters However, they contain harmful substances for the environment.
Laws ad hoc. Unlike other polluting substances, filters have no use. That’s why they should be prohibited, just as it happened to straw or plastic bags. The town of Santa Cruz, California, has already done so in 2024. Last August the world leaders met in Geneva to negotiate a global treatise on plastic pollution (a plastics Treaty) in which, in the current draft, cigarette filters also appear, but only the “plastic” ones: so on therefore other types of filters (such as the “ecological” ones, which we have seen, harmful).
Totally prohibiting cigarettes filters would not only put an end to a big environmental problem, but could paradoxically also reduce the number of smokers, because cigarettes without filter are stronger and less pleasant.
