Littered Tobacco Products Clean-Up Costs India $766 Million A Year: WHO

The economic impact of cleaning up littered tobacco products fall on taxpayers, rather than the industry creating the problem and each year, this costs India about $766 million, the World Health Organisation said.

Marking 'World No Tobacco Day', the global health organisation said Tuesday that every year the tobacco industry costs the world more than eight million human lives, 600 million trees, 200,000 hectares of land, 22 billion tonnes of water and 84 million tonnes of CO2.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) revealed new information on the extent to which tobacco damages both the environment and human health, calling for steps to make the industry more accountable for the destruction it is causing.

WHO said products like cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes add to the build-up of plastic pollution. Cigarette filters contain microplastics and make up the second-highest form of plastic pollution worldwide.

Despite tobacco industry marketing, there is no evidence that filters have any proven health benefits. WHO calls on policy-makers to treat cigarette filters, as what they are, single use plastics, and consider banning cigarette filters to protect public health and the environment.

"The costs of cleaning up littered tobacco products fall on taxpayers, rather than the industry creating the problem. Each year, this costs China roughly $2.6 billion and India roughly $766 million. The cost for Brazil and Germany come in at over $200 million," WHO said.

WHO estimates that the costs of total litter (all product waste) for India is about $8 billion and of this 9.57 per cent is estimate of the proportion of all litter that is tobacco product waste, which stands at $766 million.

It noted that countries like France and Spain and cities like San Francisco, California have taken a stand. Following the Polluter Pays Principle, they have successfully implemented "extended producer responsibility legislation" which makes the tobacco industry responsible for clearing up the pollution it creates.

WHO said the majority of tobacco is grown in low-and-middle-income countries, where water and farmland are often desperately needed to produce food for the region. Instead, they are being used to grow deadly tobacco plants, while more and more land is being cleared of forests.