Following a recent order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), in which it had asked the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to file their response on the harm caused by cigarette/bidi butts and chewing tobacco to the environment, an NGO, ‘Doctors for You,’ has moved a petition in the NGT and asked the tribunal to direct the Centre to declare cigarette and bidi butts as “toxic waste”.
Cigarettes have become a cause of serious concern for environmentalists. More than 100 billion cigarette butts are being dumped in India every year which contain harmful and cancer-causing chemicals. The petitioner also brought forth the findings of the Kerala State Forest Department, which revealed that around 60 hectares of forest was lost between February 2009 and March 2010 due to fires started by carelessly thrown cigarette butts. In Hyderabad, from Jan 2010 to March 2013, 1333 cases of cigarette caused fires were reported.
Research has shown that about 25-50 per cent of litter accumulated from the streets comprises tobacco residues. While India is working towards Swachchh Bharat, 100 billion non-biodegradable cigarette butts are getting disposed off into environment every year. There are no known processes of segregating or collecting cigarette butts in the world.
Regarding tobacco spitting, the petitioner said they not only ruin aesthetics, leading to wastage of public money on upkeep and maintenance, but also spread diseases. It cited the example of Howrah Bridge, whose pillars are reportedly corroding due to acids in tobacco spit. The saliva of tobacco users is laden with carcinogens and toxic chemicals, which contaminates the environment.
In their application to National Green Tribunal the applicants: Doctors for You, a non-profit organisation has requested for: Directing the respondent authorities to declare the discarded cigarette and bidi butts as toxic waste and thus take requisite action under the appropriate regulations and to formulate and place on record strategy/scheme to ensure compliance of the declaration.
Consumption of tobacco in any form in all public places should be prohibited and people should be allowed to smoke and chew (and spit) in only designated areas where norms for disposal of cigarette/bidi butts and toxic saliva should be made. Such designated areas should be licensed and monitored jointly by MoEF and MoH.
NGT should direct the respondent Authorities to conduct a collective impact study on rampant violation of environment standards by the industry. Based on the finding of the study and as per the ‘polluter pays” principal, the tobacco industry should be held liable for environmental and ecological damages till date.
The prohibition on use of plastics for packing smokeless tobacco should be extended to filters used in cigarettes under the Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules. One can estimate the large number of tobacco waste adversely affecting the quality of life in the state. “Cigarette butts consist of- unsmoked remnant tobacco, the filter of filtered cigarette and a paper wrap. They also contain carcinogens, nicotine and toxins and toxic metals such as cadmium, arsenic and lead in a highly concentrated form. All these pose high risk to public health. Action must be taken at the earliest to contain such hazardous litter.”