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75
SPECIAL COMMUNICATION
OYce of Global
Health, Centers for
Disease Control and
Prevention, Atlanta,
Georgia, USA
T E Novotny
Johns Hopkins School
of Hygiene and Public
Health, Baltimore,
Maryland
F Zhao
Correspondence to:
TE Novotny, OYce of
Global Health, Centers for
Disease Control and
Prevention, K01, 4770
Buford Highway NE,
Atlanta, Georgia
303413717, USA;
Tnovotny@bellatlantic.net
Abstract
ObjectiveTo describe the waste produced by and environmental implications
of individual cigarette consumption (filter
tips, packages, and cartons) and tobacco
manufacturing.
Study selectionAll available articles and
reports published since 1970 related to
cigarette consumption and production
waste were reviewed.
Data sourcesGlobal cigarette consumption data were used to estimate cigarette
butt and packaging waste quantities. Data
from the Center for Marine Conservations International Coastal Cleanup
Project were used to describe some
environmental impacts of tobacco-related
trash. Data from the United States
Environmental
Protection
Agencys
(EPAs) Toxics Release Inventory and
reported global cigarette consumption
totals were used to estimate waste production from cigarette manufacturing.
Data extraction and synthesisIn 1995,
an estimated 5.535 trillion cigarettes
(27 675 million cartons and 276 753
million packages) were sold by the tobacco
industry globally. Some of the wastes from
these products were properly deposited,
but a large amount of tobacco consumption waste ends up in the environment.
Some is recovered during environmental
clean-up days. For the past eight years
(19901997), cigarette butts have been the
leading item found during the International Coastal Cleanup Project; they
accounted for 19.1% of all items collected
in 1997. The tobacco manufacturing process produces liquid, solid, and airborne
waste. Among those wastes, some materials, including nicotine, are designated by
the EPA as Toxics Release Inventory (TRI)
chemicals. These are possible environmental health hazards. In 1995, the global
tobacco industry produced an estimated
2262 million kilograms of manufacturing
waste and 209 million kilograms of chemical waste. In addition, total nicotine waste
produced in the manufacture of reduced
nicotine cigarettes was estimated at 300
million kilograms.
ConclusionsLaws against littering relative to cigarette butts could be better
enforced. Additional taxes might be levied
Introduction
Externalities are the costs or eVects of a
consumer behaviour that may not be borne by
the consumer and hence may not be included
in the price of the consumed good.1 For example, a commonly analysed externality of
cigarette smoking is the economic cost of
smoking-attributable medical care for smokers, which is borne by non-smokers and by
governments as well as by the smoker.2
Another externality is the health eVects of
environmental tobacco smoke on non-smokers
and on families of smokers.3 Finally, other
environmental externalities include deforestation as a result of tobacco production (see
pages 1828 of this issue), pesticide use in
tobacco agriculture, and fires caused by
cigarette smoking. All these externalities aVect
the social costs of smoking, which may need to
be addressed by policy actions of government
or the private sector. Here we describe
additional externalities of tobacco use
involving waste production due to individual
consumption as well as to the tobacco
manufacturing process.
The waste products of cigarette consumption are clearly visible whenever one walks on a
city sidewalk or uses a public beach. Cigarette
butts, packages, cellophane wrappers, and cartons are ubiquitous forms of trash. Although
Novotny, Zhao
Table 1 Estimates of total and filtered cigarette consumption, cartons, and packages
produced in 49 selected countries and worldwide, 1995 (million units)
Country
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bangladesh
Belgium-Luxembourg
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Cuba
Former
Czechoslovakia
Denmark
Egypt
France
Former Soviet Union
Germany
Greece
Hungary
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Italy
Japan
Malaysia
Mexico
Morocco
Netherlands
Nigeria
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Saudi Arabia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States
Venezuela
Yugoslavia
Subtotal
World
Cigarette
consumption
% of
Filtered
cigarettes
(sales)
Cigarette filters
Cartons
Packages
41 000
32 179
13 192
14 450
16 194
1 194 000
16 000
53 500
12 561
1 660 250
19 800
15 900
98
95
99
14
95.5
99
92.8
97.5
99
72
85.1
48.5
40 180
30 570
13 060
2 023
15 465
118 206
14 848
52 163
12 435
1 195 380
16 850
7 712
205
161
66
72
81
597
80
268
63
8 301
99
80
2 050
1 609
660
723
810
5 970
800
2 675
628
83 013
990
795
29 150
8 360
38 745
88 336
352 550
149 000
30 700
28 850
87 430
175 810
24 000
13 200
87 750
318 177
16 700
46 298
15 526
25 000
18 500
62 009
103 000
16 247
39 000
19 850
37 695
93 500
77 980
8 200
15 550
37 997
48 600
96 500
90 970
470 000
9 653
45 000
4 840 259
5 535 059
95
83.5
92.1
86.9
74.9
95.7
97.6
96.4
64.5
69
81.11*
81.11*
94
99
94.7
81.9
55
88.9
70
95.5
76.9
97
50
81.11*
92.1
98
97
96
99.3
99
97
91.1
99
96.1
98
81.11*
27 693
6 981
35 684
76 764
264 060
142 593
29 963
27 811
56 392
121 309
19 466
10 707
82 485
314 995
15 815
37 918
8 539
22 225
12 950
59 219
79 207
15 760
19 500
16 100
34 717
91,630
75 641
7 872
15 441
37 617
47 142
87 912
90 060
451 670
9 460
36 500
4 008 689
4 584 136
146
42
194
442
1 763
745
154
144
437
879
120
66
439
1 591
84
231
78
125
93
310
515
81
195
99
188
468
390
41
78
190
243
483
455
2 350
48
225
24 201
27 675
1 458
418
1 937
4 417
17 628
7 450
1 535
1 443
4 372
8 791
1 200
660
4 388
15 909
835
2 315
776
1 250
925
3100
5 150
812
1 950
993
1 885
4 675
3 899
410
778
1 900
2 430
4 825
4 549
23 500
483
2 250
242 013
276 753
82.82*
Figure 1 The 10 most common items of trash (52.4% of total trash) collected on
Australia Clean Up Day 1993. Source: Keep Australia Beautiful National Association.
15
10
5
0
Novotny, Zhao
Table 2 Estimated total tobacco production waste, chemical wastes, and Toxics Release
Inventory chemical abatement costs, United States and global, 1995
Cigarette
production*
(million pieces)
United States
716 500
Global
5 535 059
Total chemical
waste (kg)
27 008 041
(projected)
208 640 754
(projected)
52 139 701
(projected)
402 786 213
(projected)
Total quantity
released (kg)
Ammonia
Ethylene glycol
Hydrochloric acid
Hydrogen fluoride
Methyl ethyl ketone
Nicotine and nicotine salts
Nitric acid
Phosphoric acid
Sulphuric acid
Toluene
946 155
8 936
407 371
27 937
340 821
900 377
58 970
6 804
67 228
349 622
79
Novotny, Zhao
degradation by micro-organisms. Waste Manage Res 1997;
15:34958.
14 Market Tracking International Ltd. World tobacco file, 1996,
vol 2. London: International Trade Publications Ltd,
1996.
15 Joosens L, Raw M. Cigarette smuggling in Europe: who
really benefits? Tobacco Control 1998;7:6671.
16 US Environmental Protection Agency. RCRA: reducing risk
from waste. Washington, DC: EPA, September 1997. (EPA
530-K-97-004.)
17 Anon. <www.rtk.net> Right-to-Know network: EPA TRIS
database. OMB Watch and Unison Institute, Washington
DC, 15 December 1998.
18 US Department of Health and Human Services. The health
consequences of smoking: nicotine addiction. A report of the
doi: 10.1136/tc.8.1.75
Updated information and services can be found at:
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Notes