Berlin.Environment Minister Svenja Schulze wants to reduce environmental pollution caused by discarded cigarette butts fight it. It is calling for the tobacco industry to contribute to the costs of cleaning up work, such as on beaches, in future. Discarded cigarette butts are a major problem for the environment, as the toxic substances from cigarettes can end up in the ground and in rivers, lakes and the sea.
Globally, cigarette butts are the most common Plastic waste in the environment.
Schulze hopes that "a Europe-wide ban on unnecessary single-use plastic will be introduced this year". The European Parliament had already Planning the new single-use plastic directive in favor of cost sharing. However, the cost-sharing step would not be enough. We need to "take more drastic measures worldwide than we have so far", said the Environment Minister.
Anton Hofreiter, parliamentary group leader of the Greens, criticized the SPD politician's behaviour. "While Environment Minister Schulze promises the plastic turnaround in Berlin, she is watering down the necessary laws in Brussels," said the parliamentary group leader. There is an urgent need for a clear avoidance target for single-use plastic and binding measures to hold manufacturers accountable. The German government must "follow up cheap words with tangible action" so that something changes in the future.
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