Councils say cigarette makers should pay for butt clean-up

Local councils and water boards think cigarette companies should shoulder the total cost of removing toxic cigarette butts from the environment, according to a survey by broadcaster NOS

Cigarette companies currently pay towards the clean up, based on the number of cigarettes sold in the Netherlands. But research suggests almost half the cigarettes smoked in the Netherlands were bought in another country, reducing the manufacturers clean-up contribution to 55% of the total €36 million bill. In 2023, before cigarette prices rose to over €10 a packet, they paid 75% of the cost.

“It is ridiculous that manufacturers only pay for cigarettes bought in the Netherlands,” Jacolien Eijer, director of waste collection umbrella organisation NVRD told the broadcaster. “If that is how it works, I would like to see that extended to all the Dutch butts found abroad.”

The water boards want to bring in a “polluter pays” principle. “An incentive in the shape of higher removal costs could be effective,” a spokesman said.

However, Jan Hein Stäter, director of the tobacco trade organisation VSK told NOS that to ask for a higher contribution would be “unfair and disproportional”, and said the organisation has even started a procedure to reduce the fee even further.

Smokers themselves should play a bigger role in solving the problem, Sträter said.

Some seven billion cigarette butts end up in the environment in the Netherlands every year, each filter packed full of chemicals and other additives which leach into the soil and waterways. The plastic also takes decades to break down. Birds and other types of wildlife also often mistake them for food.

Volunteers picked up some one million butts in the Netherlands during international No Butts Day in 2025. The next No Butts Day will take place on the first Saturday of July.

Meanwhile, public health institute RIVM on Monday said a ban on cigarette filters could reduce the amount of microplastics in the environment, without any negative impact on smokers’ health. That research was carried out on behalf of the health ministry.