Laurent Huber, Raquel Fernández Megina, Ubaldo Cuadrado.

On October 22, 2024, the Spanish government released Royal Decree1093/2024 to regulate the management and cleanup of waste from tobacco products. The decree applies to tobacco product filters and single-use filters that contain plastic used with tobacco products, to comply with the European Directive (EU) 2019/904 of the European Parliament and the Council of June 5, 2019. 

Following the ‘polluter pays’ principle, the Royal Decree mandates that the tobacco industry bears the cost of cleanup, which at first appears to be a victory for tobacco control and the environment. However, there are complicating factors, as it provides opportunities for the tobacco industry to greenwash its image and promote itself via corporate social responsibility platforms. Unfortunately, the Royal Decree does not just force the tobacco industry to cover the costs of cleanup, but it also entrusts the tobacco industry with the management of the process of cleaning up cigarette butts and single use plastics associated with tobacco products.  

By putting the management of the cleanup on the tobacco producer as currently formulated, the Spanish Royal Decree will allow the tobacco industry to have access to and engage with representatives of municipalities and autonomous communities throughout Spain. This will also provide a platform for the tobacco industry to greenwash its image through corporate social responsibility programs and “awareness raising” campaigns, where tobacco companies claim to work to protect the environment but instead propose counterproductive measures. An example of these counterproductive campaigns is distributing pocket ashtrays and other measures aimed at normalizing tobacco consumption and shifting the responsibility of cigarette pollution away from the tobacco industry to the person who uses tobacco.   

On the same day the Royal Decree was published, the tobacco industry announced the creation of ‘Avora’. According to its website, Avora is “a nonprofit association created to unite all producers of tobacco products with filters and tobacco filters. Its purpose is to support the proper management of tobacco filters containing plastic and to raise public awareness of the importance of properly disposing of cigarette butts, in line with our principles of sustainable management.” However, as nofumadores.org and ASH point out, this mechanism is problematic as it can easily be misused by tobacco manufacturers as a lever for positive communication and to greenwash the tobacco industry’s image. This opportunity for self-promotion violates FCTC Article 13 which calls on countries to ban all forms of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.    

For this reason, nofumadores.org and ASH responded with a global call to action. Seventy-four health and environmental organizations from all regions of the world united to send a letter urging the Spanish government to amend the Royal Decree. The organizations called on the government to ensure that the tobacco industry remains responsible for covering the cost of cleaning up the waste it generates but stops the tobacco industry from being involved in the management of, or using cleanups for public awareness campaigns.   

The 74 Spanish and international health and environmental signatory organizations (also available in English on Nofumadores.org) raised concerns that the current Royal Decree constitutes a violation of Article 5.3 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Article 5.3 prohibits tobacco industry interference in public health policies, stating that to protect such policies from the commercial interests of the tobacco industry, parties “should interact with the tobacco industry only when and to the extent strictly necessary to enable effective regulation of the tobacco industry and tobacco products.” Launching Avora, with a membership exclusively including tobacco producers including Philip Morris, Imperial Tobacco, British American Tobacco, Japan Tobacco International and others, on the same day the decree was made public, raises concerns that there may have been joint planning or interactions between the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the tobacco companies.  

ASH and Nofumadores call on any organization managing the cleanup of cigarette butts and tobacco pollution to be independent of tobacco manufacturers, with the latter’s contribution being limited to financing the system. 

Laurent Huber, Executive Director of ASH USA 

Raquel Fernández Megina, President of Nofumadores.org (Non-smokers.org Spain) 

Ubaldo Cuadrado, Vice-president of Nofumadores.org (Non-smokers.org Spain)