IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i10p1858-d234455.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Global Health Perspectives on Cigarette Butts and the Environment

Author

Listed:
  • Paula Stigler Granados

    (School of Health Administration, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX 78666, USA)

  • Lawrence Fulton

    (School of Health Administration, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX 78666, USA)

  • Evangelina Nunez Patlan

    (School of Health Administration, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX 78666, USA)

  • Mischa Terzyk

    (Framework Convention Alliance (FCA) for Tobacco Control, Ottawa, ON K1N 7B7, Canada)

  • Thomas E. Novotny

    (School of Public Health, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92106, USA)

Abstract

Cigarette butts, which are also known as tobacco product waste (TPW), are the single most collected item in environmental trash cleanups worldwide. This study used an online survey tool (Qualtrics) to assess knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions regarding this issue among individuals representing the Framework Convention Alliance (FCA). The FCA has about 680 members on its listserv, including non-governmental tobacco control advocacy groups that support the implementation of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Respondents ( n = 65) represented countries from all six WHO regions. The majority (82%) had heard the term TPW, and they all considered TPW as an environmental harm at some level. Additionally, 29% of respondents failed to identify that “cigarette filters make smoking easier”. Most (73%) correctly identified TPW components; however, fewer (60%) correctly identified the composition of cigarette butts. The majority (57%) were unfamiliar with Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and Product Stewardship (PS) as possible environmental intervention strategies. Respondents expressing opinions concurred that adding a litter fee to fund TPW programs will aid in reducing tobacco use and reduce the environmental impacts of TPW (100%); that prevention, reduction, and mitigation of TPW could be an important part of international tobacco control programs (98%); and, that banning smoking in outdoor venues could reduce TPW (95%). Only 16% reported effective prevention or clean-up efforts in their countries. Weighted rankings revealed that respondents’ saw the national government, the tobacco industry, and state governments as the most important in addressing TPW. The results of this research will inform continuing international discussions by the FCTC Conference of the Parties (COP) regarding environmental policies that may be addressed within FCTC obligations.

Suggested Citation

  • Paula Stigler Granados & Lawrence Fulton & Evangelina Nunez Patlan & Mischa Terzyk & Thomas E. Novotny, 2019. "Global Health Perspectives on Cigarette Butts and the Environment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-9, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:10:p:1858-:d:234455
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/10/1858/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/10/1858/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sanas Javadian & Paula Stigler-Granados & Clifton Curtis & Francis Thompson & Laurent Huber & Thomas E. Novotny, 2015. "Perspectives on Tobacco Product Waste: A Survey of Framework Convention Alliance Members’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-9, August.
    2. Thomas E. Novotny & Kristen Lum & Elizabeth Smith & Vivian Wang & Richard Barnes, 2009. "Cigarettes Butts and the Case for an Environmental Policy on Hazardous Cigarette Waste," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 6(5), pages 1-15, May.
    3. Jessica M. Rath & Rebecca A. Rubenstein & Laurel E. Curry & Sarah E. Shank & Julia C. Cartwright, 2012. "Cigarette Litter: Smokers’ Attitudes and Behaviors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-15, June.
    4. World Health Organization, 2017. "Tobacco and its environmental impact: an overview," University of California at San Francisco, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education qt8tp3r5rc, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, UC San Francisco.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Elena Simina Lakatos & Lucian-Ionel Cioca & Yong Geng & Elena Cristina Rada, 2024. "Environmental impacts of tobacco product waste: An investigation on littering attitudes," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 4(3), pages 2199-2220, September.
    2. John E. Schneider & Cara M. Scheibling & N. Andrew Peterson & Paula Stigler Granados & Lawrence Fulton & Thomas E. Novotny, 2020. "Online Simulation Model to Estimate the Total Costs of Tobacco Product Waste in Large U.S. Cities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-16, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. John E. Schneider & Cara M. Scheibling & N. Andrew Peterson & Paula Stigler Granados & Lawrence Fulton & Thomas E. Novotny, 2020. "Online Simulation Model to Estimate the Total Costs of Tobacco Product Waste in Large U.S. Cities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-16, June.
    2. Sanas Javadian & Paula Stigler-Granados & Clifton Curtis & Francis Thompson & Laurent Huber & Thomas E. Novotny, 2015. "Perspectives on Tobacco Product Waste: A Survey of Framework Convention Alliance Members’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-9, August.
    3. Maria Christina B. Araújo & Monica F. Costa, 2019. "From Plant to Waste: The Long and Diverse Impact Chain Caused by Tobacco Smoking," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(15), pages 1-9, July.
    4. Marc W. Beutel & Thomas C. Harmon & Thomas E. Novotny & Jeremiah Mock & Michelle E. Gilmore & Stephen C. Hart & Samuel Traina & Srimanti Duttagupta & Andrew Brooks & Christopher L. Jerde & Eunha Hoh &, 2021. "A Review of Environmental Pollution from the Use and Disposal of Cigarettes and Electronic Cigarettes: Contaminants, Sources, and Impacts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-25, November.
    5. René A. Garrido Lazo & Raydel Manrique Suárez & María F. Bravo Guerra & Constanza C. Soto Silva & Jaime Pizarro Konczak & Claudia Ortiz Calderón, 2024. "Ecotoxicological Impact of Cigarette Butts on Coastal Ecosystems: The Case of Marbella Beach, Chile," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-17, November.
    6. El Assli, Hicham & Merzouki, Mohamed & Chigr, Fatiha & Aimrane, Abdelmohcine & Najimi, Mohamed, 2020. "Status of addictions to psychoactive substances among students in the province of Béni Mellal, Morocco," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    7. Elena Simina Lakatos & Lucian-Ionel Cioca & Yong Geng & Elena Cristina Rada, 2024. "Environmental impacts of tobacco product waste: An investigation on littering attitudes," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 4(3), pages 2199-2220, September.
    8. Thomas Webler & Karin Jakubowski, 2022. "Attitudes, Beliefs, and Behaviors about Cigarette-Butt Littering among College-Aged Adults in the United States," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-18, July.
    9. Javad Zare Derakhshan & Saeed Firouzi & Armaghan Kosari-Moghaddam, 2022. "Energy audit of tobacco production agro-system based on different farm size levels in northern Iran," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 2715-2735, February.
    10. Jessica M. Rath & Rebecca A. Rubenstein & Laurel E. Curry & Sarah E. Shank & Julia C. Cartwright, 2012. "Cigarette Litter: Smokers’ Attitudes and Behaviors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-15, June.
    11. Alan Fuchs & Francisco Meneses, 2017. "Regressive or Progressive?," World Bank Publications - Reports 28575, The World Bank Group.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:10:p:1858-:d:234455. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.