Related Topics
Changing the Culture
The goal is to help smokers develop good habits at the source: fully extinguishing cigarettes, not smoking while walking, and disposing of cigarette butts in trash cans. Change can be achieved by shaping a positive social atmosphere, encouraging mutual reminders and support, and working together to put these practices into action.
The Ministry of Environment (MOENV), in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture (MOC), established a National Alliance to jointly promote "cigarette butts off the ground" throughout the country. On June 5, 2024, World Environment Day, the two ministries held the "Reduce Cigarette Butts, Clean Up the Environment: National Alliance Launch Event" to promote the National Cigarette Butts Off the Ground Initiative, beginning with cultural change. Minister Peng Chi-Ming of the MOENV, Minister Li Yuan of the MOC, Executive Yuan Youth Advisory Committee member Chang Han-Wei, student Huang Yu-Chen of Taipei First Girls High School's "Girls in the Oasis" environmental organization, and Jason Huang, founder of Rethink, participated in a discussion. They expressed hope that all sectors of society would pay attention to the issue, encourage one another, and work together to put the initiative into practice, making "cigarette butts off the ground" a reality and creating a more beautiful environment.
The Ministry of Environment is promoting the "National Cigarette Butts Off the Ground Program" mainly through six major strategies and 21+N measures: "Changing Culture," "Source Reduction," "Inspection and Enforcement," "Environmental Cleanup," "Public-Private Cooperation," and "Strengthening Research." The aim is to keep our living environment clean and healthy and our ecological environment clean and sustainable.
The effort begins with cultural change, with the hope that smokers will develop good habits at the source: fully extinguishing cigarettes, not smoking while walking, and throwing cigarette butts into trash cans. Change is promoted by shaping social norms, encouraging mutual reminders, and working together in practice.
Taiwan's tobacco product sales in 2025 were about 36.5 billion sticks. If one-quarter of cigarette butts are littered, more than 9.1 billion cigarette butts may enter the environment each year. Discarded cigarette butts consist of three parts: residual tobacco, filters, and paper wrappers. Filters are made of cellulose acetate, a durable artificial plastic that does not biodegrade after being discarded in the environment and may take 10 years or longer to break down. Residual tobacco contains more than 7,000 harmful chemicals, including nicotine, arsenic, lead, copper, chromium, cadmium, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The chemical mixture released contains toxic and carcinogenic substances. When these substances enter soil, water bodies, lakes, and oceans, toxins leach from cigarette butts, affecting the environment and marine ecosystems. Research has also shown that smoked cigarette butts and nicotine leachate can be lethal to fish. One cigarette butt in one liter of water can kill half the fish, allowing toxins to enter the food chain and harm both the environment and public health.
When cigarette butts are carelessly discarded, they can travel through drains or storm sewers, then through waterways and rivers to beaches or the ocean. They pollute the environment and are sometimes eaten by seabirds or marine mammals, posing an ecological threat comparable to plastic waste.
Cigarette butt litter remains common in daily environments, affecting city appearance and environmental quality while continuing to harm rivers, oceans, and ecosystems.
- Data Source: Division of Environmental Sanitation
- Publish Date: 2026-08-13
- Update Date: 2026-08-13