Big tobacco: poisoning (long-due) extended producer responsibility schemes

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Single Use Plastics Directive Implementation Assessment Report February 2024 Focus on Extended Producer Responsibility schemes on tobacco-related products

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.

Disposable Paper-based Food Packaging. The false solution to the packaging waste crisis.

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A new report by the Rethink Plastic Alliance, European Environmental Bureau, Zero Waste Europe, Fern and the Environmental Paper Network reveals the environmental harm caused by replacing single-use plastic with single-use paper packaging. The report clearly shows the need to move away from ever-polluting single-use packaging and towards well-designed reuse systems. The NGO coalition calls on the EU to seize the opportunity the Packaging and Packaging Waste regulation offers, and implement the necessary changes.

Tiny Plastic, Big Problem. Recommendations for Effective EU Plastic Pellet RegulationsTiny Plastic, Big Problem.

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The exponential expansion of the production of raw plastic materials since 2005 has resulted in
increased waste generation and over 170 trillion plastic particles in the world’s oceans. Virtually all plastic products are derived from plastic pellets, flakes and powders (hereinafter referred to simply as
pellets), meaning the transboundary shipment of pellets has also drastically expanded. Due to pellets’
size and current handling across the supply chain, they often end up in the environment and are one of
the largest sources of primary microplastic pollution. In response, the European Union (EU) should take
all necessary steps to regulate plastic pellets across the plastic supply chain and effectively reduce the
amount of pellets that end up in the environment.