Single Use Plastics Directive Implementation Assessment Report

https://rethinkplasticalliance.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/SUPD-implementation-assessment-report_EPR-Tobacco_Surfrider-Europe_RPA_20240205_Designe_FINAL_ppt.pdf

Cigarette buts are the most commonly found litter worldwide in clean-up activities with over 4.5 trillion estimated to be discarded annually. Cigarette butts are found in almost all environments: they are found massively along roadways, along waterways, on the beach but also in parks and playgrounds, and in cities. As our citizen science projects prove, cigarettes have constantly been the number one litter item picked up on European beaches, in city streets or along water bodies during the Surfrider Europe’s Ocean Initiatives: 2,409,580 cigarette butts were collected in 2022 (1). In 2022, cigarette butts were collected in 89% of our operations and there were 1072 cigarette butts counted on average at each clean-up organised that year. And in every country where Ocean Initiatives took place, cigarette butts were found. At global level, of the 137 million cigarette butts discarded onto the ground every day, 40% end up in the oceans.