Whereas cigarette butts are a significant source of litter in many local communities; And whereas cigarette butts are non-biodegradable and leach toxic organic chemicals and heavy metals into the environment impacting soil, fresh and saltwater, and have a significant negative impact on the aquatic and land-based organisms that ingest them; And whereas a cigarette butt deposit return program offers a promising solution to significantly reduce cigarette butt litter and improve environmental health: Therefore be it resolved that the BC Ministry of Environment implement a province-wide cigarette butt deposit return program for the elimination of cigarette litter.
Ministry of Environment Climate Action Strategy The Provinces long term policy regarding waste management and recycling is to shift the onus of responsibility for managing products at their end of life from local governments and the general taxpayer to industry and consumers, through the approach known as Extended Producer Responsibility EPR. In BC, we now have province-wide recycling programs for packaging and printed paper PPP, beverage containers, electronics, tires, pharmaceuticals, paint, oil, pesticides and other household hazardous wastes. The Ministry of Environment prioritizes new product categories to be added to the Recycling Regulation by aligning with the schedules in the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment Canada-Wide Action Plan for Extended Producer Responsibility CCME CAP-EPR. For example, the Regulation was amended in May 2011 to include Packaging and Printed paper PPP as a product category. This means that producers of PPP, including producers of cigarette packaging, had to be part of a product stewardship plan by May 2014. Construction and demolition waste, textiles and mattresses have been identified by the CCME as future priorities for regulation. Many of these waste types are significant in volume, problematic to recycle and costly to manage. Local governments across BC have also echoed their support for regulation of several of these product categories. The Ministry is currently focusing on full implementation and continuous improvement of its existing programs before further pursuing new EPR programs. As a result of the Ministrys current focus on continuous improvement of its EPR programs and the fact that tobacco product waste, specifically cigarette butts, is currently not part of the CCME CAP-EPR, the addition of tobacco product waste to the Regulation is not being considered at this time. As the Ministry recognizes the issues caused by cigarette butts, it is suggested that adoption of pole-mounted collection container programs that are proving successful in other BC jurisdictions be as a means to collect these problematic items. An alternative or additional measure may be to approach industry to assist in piloting andor funding these programs.