Tobacco companies have contributed a quarter of a million euros towards street cleaning under new laws, a fraction of overall annual cost despite cigarette butts comprising a big proportion of street waste.
The litter tax stems from European single plastics rules, designed to help combat the abundance of cigarette filters discarded countrywide.
According to the Department of the Environment, tobacco companies handed over €248,264 in arrears fees via the Tobacco Product Plastic Filter Group (TPPFG) in 2023, its first full year in operation.
That represents about 0.2 per cent of “litter clean-up cost” data supplied by local authorities for 2023, amounting to €111 million.
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In 2021 the cost was estimated at €85 million and the government-affiliated National Litter Pollution Monitoring System described cigarette butts as “the biggest litter scourge” facing the State, accounting for about half of discarded materials.
However, the department said that by weight, cigarette filters account for less than 1 per cent of annual totals.
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Financial contributions received in 2024 were calculated on the volume of products each producer places on the market, although specific amounts are deemed commercially sensitive and unavailable.
The TPPFG has 10 members including Imperial Brands John Player Ireland, JTI Ireland, Philip Morris and PJ Carroll & Company.
The levies, specifically relating to plastic content, will be required until products are redesigned along more environmentally sustainable lines. Companies are legally required to be members of an extended producer responsibility scheme and contribute to the cost of street cleaning.
“No decision has yet been taken on how those funds will be dispersed other than being ring-fenced for future litter clean-up activities,” the department said.
“While we are not aware of any switch by the industry to non-plastic alternative materials for tobacco filters as yet, the measures introduced under the single-use plastics regulations should over time encourage innovation leading to the development of more sustainable alternatives for these products.”
The 2023 National Litter Pollution Monitoring System report showed tobacco filters accounted for 42.6 per cent of total litter by individual item count.
“However, litter cost calculations are based on the composition of litter by weight not by count. As tobacco filters are very light – on average 0.2 grams each – the percentage of tobacco filters proportionate to the total weight of litter is very low,” the department said.
Single-use plastics, it said, accounted for just 2.45 per cent of all litter in 2023, rising slightly to 2.68 per cent last year. In both years, tobacco filters accounted for less than 1 per cent of the total.
“The department is satisfied that the cost calculations, which are used to determine contributions from producers for a range of SUP [single-use plastics] products, not just tobacco filters, have been established in a proportionate way.”
