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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-09-25 Daily Xml
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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. S.L. GAME (22:11): I rise today to speak on the honourable member's motion regarding the environmental impact of cigarette waste. The facts presented are eye-opening and I thank the honourable member for highlighting the need for action. We all share a commitment to keeping our environment clean and it is clear that more must be done to mitigate the harm caused by discarded cigarette butts. I support the overall intent of this motion, particularly in holding the tobacco industry accountable for the waste it creates.

However, while we should explore effective solutions, I am concerned with one aspect of the motion in reference to San Francisco's cigarette litter abatement fee. This could be a concern for small business owners and, in the current economic climate, this fee could have unintended negative consequences for retailers already struggling with the skyrocketing costs of doing business in Australia. That said, I look forward to future discussion on this issue. It is crucial that we strike a balance between holding industries accountable and safeguarding small business operators against any economic fallout stemming from these new measures.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (22:12): I rise to give the government's response to this motion. We have decided to support the legislation. The Hon. Mr Simms is correct that cigarette butts are consistently the most littered item in Australia. Of the 17.75 billion cigarettes consumed in Australia each year, between 5.9 billion and 8.9 billion end up as litter.

The KESAB 2022 rubbish report provides a snapshot of the extent of cigarette butt litter in South Australia, and indicates that cigarette butt litter represents 13.6 per cent of reported rubbish, the second most reported litter item. The KESAB report also summarised the impact of cigarette litter on the South Australian environment, and states that small butts leach toxins and leave small pieces of plastic in their wake, providing immediate, short and long-term danger for our precious flora and fauna.

Furthermore, a KESAB litter disposal behaviour study from 2011 identifies where in Adelaide cigarette butts are most littered, stating, 'The ethnography identified several litter hotspots throughout the Adelaide City Council area:' including outside the former Royal Adelaide Hospital and other areas where large office buildings are co-located, and surrounding open spaces which become popular for smoking breaks.

The same KESAB report from 2011 also revealed that for cigarette butts there is little correlation between the volume of butts littered and the availability and proximity of rubbish bins, an example of this being the former RAH, which had what was considered to be a very high availability of bins. This lack of correlation relates partly to the littering of butts being both habitual and intentional, combined with the fact that 43 per cent of litterers are more inclined to litter smaller items such as butts, gum, paper tickets, receipts, etc.

The physical make-up and toxic nature of cigarette butts are well known. According to the WWF Australia report on ending cigarette butt litter in 2021, littered butts can pose a number of hazards to the environment resulting from the fact that they contain non-biodegradable plastics, take time to decompose and in doing so shed microfibres, and can leach toxic chemicals, with approximately 100 of the chemicals known to leach from butts being acutely or chronically toxic to aquatic species. Furthermore, butts are often found within the stomachs of wildlife, particularly of birds and marine life.

There are a number of schemes around the world that are in the planning stage or have been implemented with the aim of reducing cigarette butt litter, including but not limited to San Francisco, Spain and Canada. As an example, Spain has introduced new environmental regulations that came into force in early 2023 requiring tobacco companies to pay for removing discarded cigarettes from the streets and cover the costs of collecting waste from such discarded products in public collection systems, including infrastructure and its operation and the subsequent transport and treatment of the waste.

The costs recovered include the establishment of specific infrastructure for the collection of waste from such products, such as appropriate waste receptacles in places where such waste is concentrated. They also include costs associated with measures for the development of alternatives and prevention measures to reduce the waste generation and increase material recovery.

In 2022, the Spanish region of Catalonia proposed introducing a cigarette return scheme whereby the government would pay four euros to people who return a pack's worth of cigarette butts. This would be covered by a 20¢ levy on each cigarette. The scheme has not yet been introduced (as at January 2023) and the details of the levy plan have yet to be confirmed.

The Canadian scheme is not a formal product stewardship scheme for cigarettes through legislation. However, there is a cigarette free recycling program run by TerraCycle and sponsored by UNSMOKE. Cigarette butts can be collected and sent to TerraCycle using a prepaid shipping label. Shipments earn 100 TerraCycle points per pound and points can be redeemed for a donation of $0.01 per point to the charitable organisation or school of choice. TerraCycle state that they compost the residual tobacco and paper and recycle the filter material, but the details and efficacy are not known.

In forming a government position on a previous cigarette butt waste private members' bill, introduced by the Hon. Mr Simms (the Environment Protection(Cigarette Butt Waste) Amendment Bill 2023 introduced on 22 June 2023) the EPA assisted by engaging with colleagues in the Department for Health and Wellbeing that regulate tobacco products in South Australia, as well as colleagues in the New South Wales EPA, which administers a considerable litter reduction program and have had discussions with the commonwealth regarding options to prevent the littering of butts.

The EPA also sought legal advice on the matter. In short, the original PMB proposed amendments to the Environment Protection Act 1993 to require cigarette distributors to remove at least 10 kilograms of cigarette waste from a public place for every 10,000 packets of cigarettes brought into the state in a financial year.

The New South Wales EPA raised considerable concerns that the scheme being proposed by the private members' bill would be a contravention of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

An article from The Guardian was provided by the New South Wales EPA, documenting that the federal government had been forced to revoke carbon neutral certification given to a big tobacco company after the endorsement was found to be in breach of the treaty to which Australia is a signatory.

Among many clauses, the treaty states that government consultation with the tobacco industry should be limited to measures needed for public officials or agencies to enact effective tobacco control. That action should be taken to de-normalise the tobacco industry's socially responsible activities and that partnerships with the tobacco industry should be rejected.

The Crown advice received by the EPA recognised that there are a number of ways in which the bill (or similar), inclusive of any suggested improvement to it and any public consultation with respect to it, would be in breach of the WHO treaty. The Deputy Premier will raise the matter of cigarette waste at the next national Environment Ministers' Meeting with the intention of ascertaining interest as to whether the New South Wales government may consider preparing a joint paper for a future EMM meeting.

There has been quite a lot of consultation in regard to this issue. The Deputy Premier has met with the Hon. Robert Simms, with EPA staff present, on more than one occasion regarding this general matter, since the original PMB was introduced well before this motion. The EPA has consulted with GISA, DHW, CSO and the New South Wales EPA. With that, the government indicates its support.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (22:20): I rise to support the motion of the Hon. Rob Simms. I think it is a very worthy move to try to find some way to remove our communities, our streets, our waterways of cigarette butts. There was an alarming story I read recently about microplastics. We all know that scientists have located microplastics in our bodies, but what was more horrifying was that scientists have recently discovered that microplastics have been found in the human brain. That shows you the extent of the problem that exists with plastics in the world.

Smoking is a terrible habit. What is worse is the litter that it creates and the hazards that it presents to wildlife and also to marine life. Someone needs to take responsibility for reducing and removing cigarette butts. The Hon. Russell Wortley spoke of financial incentives or levies that are being imposed to be a disincentive for people to discard their cigarette butts, and it sounds like a good idea to me. With that, I wholeheartedly commend the motion to the chamber.

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.

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (22:28): Isn't it nice, we can all be friends again now, a moment of unity, as we all come together to tackle cigarette butt waste. I do want to thank all of the speakers on this bill: the Hon. Sarah Game, the Hon. Russell Wortley, the Hon. Frank Pangallo and the Hon. Jing Lee. I note that the Hon. Connie Bonaros had five words for the Hon. Mr Wortley. I can only say 'thank you' to the honourable member for his contribution. He has set out, I think quite clearly, the rationale for action on this issue, and other speakers have dwelt on that, so I do not need to go into the details in terms of why action on this is required.

I do want to take just a brief moment, though, to acknowledge the leadership of the environment minister, Deputy Premier Susan Close, on this. When I introduced my private member's bill last year, looking at this issue of cigarette butt waste, I reached out to the minister and I have met with her and her office a number of times to talk about this issue.

It is my impression that the minister has a genuine desire to want to do something in this regard. I appreciate the undertaking that has been given to raise this issue at the next national meeting in the hope that we can see a coordinated approach, recognising that this is of course bigger than just South Australia.

I also acknowledge the leadership of both sides of politics here in this state in that regard, in particular the leadership of the former environment minister, the Hon. David Speirs, who did a lot of work in terms of reducing waste. I think it is a credit to South Australia that that work has been undertaken in a bipartisan way. It would be great if we could see South Australia leading the way again in terms of targeting cigarette butts as a significant contributor to waste.

Motion carried.

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