Cigarette Waste

Adjourned debate on motion of Hon. R.A. Simms:

That this Council—

1. Notes that:

a. of the 17.75 billion cigarettes estimated to be consumed in Australia each year, between 30 to 75 per cent end up as litter;

b. cigarette waste makes up to 14 per cent of total waste items found during Clean Up Australia Day;

c. 34 per cent of total litter counted by KESAB is cigarette waste; and

d. at the Conference of Parties (COP10) in February 2024, the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control has resolved to urge signatories to take action on the environmental impact of cigarette waste.

2. Acknowledges that littered cigarette butts:

a. contain cellulose acetate and can take 15 years to break down in seawater;

b. create plastic microfibres as they degrade; and

c. contain over 7,000 chemicals and one butt can contaminate 40 litres of water.

3. Recognises that:

a. Spain has introduced regulations to require tobacco companies to pay for the clean-up of cigarettes;

b. San Francisco collects litter tax from retailers and charges tobacco companies for the cost of cleaning up; and

c. the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority has initiated consultation on cigarette butts through introducing design standards to design out plastic tobacco filters.

4. Calls on the Malinauskas government to:

a. take any possible action to ensure the tobacco industry is accountable for the waste they produce; and

b. raise the matter with the national environment ministers at their next meeting.

(Continued from 15 May 2024.)

The Hon. J.S. LEE (Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (22:22): I rise today on behalf of the Liberal opposition to indicate our support for the motion moved by the Hon. Robert Simms.

I commend the Honourable Member for bringing this motion to the chamber and for stating the simple fact that there is a problem in Australia with the amount of cigarette waste that is consumed.

This motion is consistent with efforts made during the Marshall Liberal government to implement a phase-out of single-use plastic products in South Australia, which of course includes the degradation of cigarette butts into microplastics. Cigarette filters are made from a non-biodegradable plastic, which breaks up slowly and sheds microfibres, taking up to 14 years to decompose, leaching toxic materials into their surrounding environments in the meantime.

According to the most recent published KESAB annual report for 2022-23, cigarette butts with filters are the most commonly littered item worldwide, with 4.5 trillion butts tossed into the environment annually. In the litter index for South Australia, cigarette butts accounted for 29 per cent of total litter. In another report by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) released in October 2021, it was found that, of the 17.75 billion cigarettes consumed in Australia each year, between 5.9 billion and 8.9 billion actually ended up as litter, equal to about 33 to 50 per cent of cigarettes. This represents 1,400 tonnes of litter.

As a result, the annual cost of removing tobacco-related litter has been estimated at $73 million per year associated with state, territory and local government litter prevention and removal services. These are just some of the startling facts that show us what we already knew to be true: cigarettes are harmful for our health, for our environment and come at a great financial cost to all.

The current strategies to tackle this issue are ineffective. The tobacco industry response to product waste has been to focus responsibility on the consumer. Given the fact that cigarettes continue to be littered, it is clear that these strategies on their own have been ineffective. Many around the world are now calling for stronger industry regulation.

What are the solutions to this problem? In a report by Equilibrium, commissioned by the WWF and released in 2021, it indicated that the greatest reduction in cigarette butt pollution would likely be achieved by a mandatory product stewardship scheme or a ban on single-use plastic filters. A stewardship scheme will shift the cost of responsibility for addressing cigarette butt waste from taxpayers and on to producers, users and polluters. This would expand the collection, recovery and reprocessing of cigarettes butts, as well as research and development for improved recovery, processing and design.

In their report Equilibrium proposed a levy of .004, which is less than half a cent per cigarette, to raise $71 million per year to fund clean-up costs that are currently met by governments and taxpayers. It is estimated that if a stewardship scheme called on the tobacco industry to be responsible for the waste, there could be a reduction in cigarette butts by 4.45 billion per year.

While such a solution would need to be investigated further before implementation, it was something we were on track to do under the previous federal Liberal government. In 2021 the environment minister Sussan Ley committed to a task force to address plastic in littered cigarette butts as part of a new national plan to tackle plastic waste.

The industry-led, cross-sectoral stewardship task force, which was welcomed by many environmental groups, would have examined potential solutions, including removing butts from cigarettes entirely.

A government-led task force drawing on the expertise within government NGOs and academia would have been instrumental in combatting one of the country's largest environmental challenges, yet the federal Albanese government has not followed through on the commitment by the previous government, and it remains to be seen whether a task force will be implemented at any time soon.

The Equilibrium report confirmed that a national mandated stewardship scheme would achieve far greater environmental benefits than one led separately by states and territories. Clean Up Australia, Keep Australia Beautiful and Australia Marine Debris Initiative have consistently listed cigarette butts and packaging as the most littered item.

Both the Federal and State Labor Governments have failed the people of South Australia—in fact, everyone in this country—by not following through on the work started by the previous Liberal Government and supported by leading environmental and health groups.

There is no excuse for this government to drop the ball on an issue that we know can be solved and acted on now; therefore the Liberal Party joins the Hon. Robert Simms to call on the Malinauskas Labor government to take action and advocate to the Federal Labor Government to address the major concerns raised in this motion.

I commend the motion.