Regulating the disposal of cigarette butts as toxic hazardous waste.

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	Barnes, Richard L
Copyright Year	2011
Abstract	The trillions of cigarette butts generated each year throughout the world pose a significant challenge for disposal regulations, primarily because there are millions of points of disposal, along with the necessity to segregate, collect and dispose of the butts in a safe manner, and cigarette butts are toxic, hazardous waste. There are some hazardous waste laws, such as those covering used tyres and automobile batteries, in which the retailer is responsible for the proper disposal of the waste, but most post-consumer waste disposal is the responsibility of the consumer. Concepts such as extended producer responsibility (EPR) are being used for some post-consumer waste to pass the responsibility and cost for recycling or disposal to the manufacturer of the product. In total, 32 states in the US have passed EPR laws covering auto switches, batteries, carpet, cell phones, electronics, fluorescent lighting, mercury thermostats, paint and pesticide containers, and these could be models for cigarette waste legislation. A broader concept of producer stewardship includes EPR, but adds the consumer and the retailer into the regulation. The State of Maine considered a comprehensive product stewardship law in 2010 that is a much better model than EPR. By using either EPR or the Maine model, the tobacco industry will be required to cover the cost of collecting and disposing of cigarette butt waste. Additional requirements included in the Maine model are needed for consumers and businesses to complete the network that will be necessary to maximise the segregation and collection of cigarette butts to protect the environment.
Related Links	https://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC3088406&blobtype=pdf
ISSN	09644563
Journal	Tobacco Control [Tob Control]
Volume Number	20 Suppl 1
DOI	10.1136/tc.2010.041301
PubMed Central reference number	PMC3088406
Issue Number	Suppl_1
PubMed reference number	21504925
e-ISSN	14683318
Language	English
Publisher	BMJ Group
Publisher Date	2011-05-01
Publisher Place	BMA House, Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9JR
Access Restriction	Open
Rights License	This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non commercial and is otherwise in compliance with the license. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/ and http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/legalcode. © 2011, Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.
Subject Keyword	Cigarette butts toxic waste precautionary principle extended producer responsibility product stewardship advocacy environment public policy
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Health (social science) Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health