Generalitat, a Butt return system to encourage recycling. The system will consist of a fee of 20 cents per cigarette and four euros per pack, and can be recovered if the butt is returned.As explained on TV3 by Isaac Peraire, director of the Catalan Waste Agency.
This vehicle was to be introduced in the new waste law prepared by Generalitat. Peraire added that it would make sense for machines to return butts where tobacco can be purchased, arguing that the discussion process has not yet begun, but that it is a “practicable” measure. Generalitat estimates that 70% of cigarette butts are thrown into the natural environment.
The system will be similar to, for example, the bottle return system that exists in many countries. the customer returning a container receives the amount he previously deposited. a) Yes, whoever returned a butt would get 20 cents.
The director noted that behind this measure there is no collection effort, but an environmental vision. Peraire underlined the need to reduce waste and called for everyone’s shared responsibility.
A very dangerous waste for the environment
Traces are a residue that contains a wide variety of toxic substances scattered throughout the natural environment.. A researcher from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia explains the magnitude of this problem, which the population often does not realize. A single cigarette butt can contaminate more than 1000 liters of water.
The numbers are alarming: Eight million butts every minute – -143,000 per second – end up on land or in the sea and enter ecosystems with more than 7,000 toxic substances.
Despite being one of the most abundant human remains on a global scale, throwing cigarette butts on the floor “is customary in the social conscience”Francisco Belzagui, a researcher at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), made a statement to the Efe agency about more than 15,000 cellulose acetate fibers in the tobacco filter, a synthetic polymer obtained from cellulose.
When cigarette butts are thrown on the street, rain and wind often carry them into an aquatic environment—rivers, lakes, swamps, the sea. microfibers.
The biggest problem with used filters – Belzagui clarifies – On the one hand, they release the accumulated tobacco toxins, on the other hand, they disperse the microfibers they contain.and due to their tiny size, they enter the food chain when ingested by all kinds of organisms, mistaking them for food.
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Environment department contact address:crisclimatica@prensaiberica.es
Source: Informacion
