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More than a quarter or 27% of smokers use to throw cigarette butts down the drain, bury them in the sand or snow in an effort to avoid polluting the environment, but 8-9% of smokers frequently drop cigarette butts on the ground in places that are already littered or where there is no waste bin nearby, shows the survey conducted by producer liability system company "Zaļā josta" and consulting company "AC Konsultācijas".

Today, on 28 September, representatives of "Zaļā josta", Riga City Council and the Environmental Education Foundation launched an information campaign to encourage people to dispose of cigarette butts properly and to remind them of its harmful impact on the environment.

At the event, Ms Aija Caune, Head of Environmental Education at "Zaļā josta", together with Ms Aija Zobena, Professor at the Department of Sociology at the University of Latvia, presented the results of a study on the behaviour of smokers and their tobacco use habits.

"During the survey, 68% of respondents said that if there is no bin nearby, they more likely do not smoke or pick up their cigarette butts and take them to the bin. At the same time, we see that irresponsible use of cigarette filters is still a great deal of problem in some parts of society", said Ms Zobena.

The survey reveals that men are more likely to leave their cigarette butts in inappropriate places, such as drains, sand or snow. This was confirmed by 41% of men and 24% of women surveyed. People who have not completed tertiary education are also more likely to say that they tend to dispose of cigarette butts in inappropriate places.

"Every cigarette butt in the environment or water system is a major problem because it contains harmful substances - the filter of a cigarette absorbs more than 4000 harmful compounds when smoked. Once in the environment, it decomposes into microplastic fibres over a period of about 15 years, continuing to pollute the environment and pose risks to soil fertility and human health", warned Ms Caune.

She pointed out that not all smokers surveyed are aware of the harmful effects of tobacco filters on the environment - 86% of respondents agreed with the statement that cigarette butts contain environmentally harmful substances and are dangerous to plants and animals. At the same time, almost all the respondents, or 96%, agreed that cigarette butts cause dirtiness, are polluting and unaesthetic.

Ms Zobena also stressed that an important condition for strengthening environmentally friendly behaviour patterns is the provision of adequate infrastructure - 66% of the respondents indicated that they are more frequently motivated to dispose of cigarette butts in designated areas because the bin is easy to see and located close by.

Results of waste monitoring on the Riga coast also show that there is a problem with cigarette butt pollution, which was presented at the event by Ms Ilze Grēvele from the Environmental Education Foundation.

"The amount of cigarette butt pollution on Latvia's beaches continues to rise and smoking waste is becoming an increasingly important environmental problem. This hinders progress towards achieving good marine environmental status and achieving Latvia's and the EU's environmental objectives", commented Ms Grēvele.

She said that the highest levels of smoking waste pollution on Latvia's coastline are on Riga's beaches, including official bathing sites. She believes that improvements at local level can be achieved through a combination of measures - not only improving infrastructure and control measures for tobacco products are important, but also active education work of the population.

The need to educate the society was also stressed by Ms Evija Meģe, Head of the Environmental Department of the Riga City Council Housing and Environment Department, who pointed out that the most important thing in reducing cigarette butt pollution is change in residents' habits.

"It's not possible to install special bins everywhere. Building the infrastructure is expensive enough, and it will have no effect if smokers will not understand why they should use it", said Ms Meģe.

The event also featured the launch of the new short film produced by “Zaļā josta”, titled "The Way of Cigarette Butt", which is available on the organisation's YouTube account. Information posters will also be placed at public transport stops in Riga to raise awareness about cigarette butt pollution. The travelling exhibition "What disappears from sight does not disappear in nature" will also be on display in several Latvian municipalities.

It was already previously reported that Latvia has one of the highest smoking rates in Europe, with 24.9% of people aged 15 and over smoking cigarettes on a daily basis, according to data collected by the statistics agency Eurostat in 2019. Only Hungary, Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria have higher smoking rates.

The survey on smokers’ behaviour and tobacco use was commissioned by “Zaļā josta” and conducted by “AC Konsultācijas” in February and March 2023, with 817 online respondents aged 18-78. The data analysis included 513 valid questionnaires completed by smoking adults.